Provocative Approaches and misconceptions

When I first encountered Frank Farrelly, I was aware that both Bandler and Grinder the creators of NLP, had studied him, but IMO only got a part of what he does. Similarly many NLPers are also too bound up in techniques to appreciate and understand the different facets of Provocative Therapy, to the extent that some think its just about humour and others think its about simply being rude! Even a longstanding associate of Richard Bandler commented that it was about being rude, totally missing the essence of this approach!

Provocative Therapy requires the therapist to respond only to what they see and hear in front of themselves at that exact moment. Many NLPers struggle with this as they work in a very predictive manner which requires extensive mind reading! There are also no certifications in Provocative Therapy, which means people can't proclaim themselves as Master X or Advanced Therapy Y, or other such quite daft titles, which frequently betray any real skill development...

Since May 2008, I have literally spent hundreds of hours talking to and watching Frank Farrelly in action. Many of these have been in a one to one situation and I am constantly amazed by the multi layered approach he has created and crucially how powerful this is when working with clients. There is more to becoming a Provocative Therapist than simply reading the original book and sitting in a room with scores of other delegates. I set up the Association for Provocative Therapy -

www.associationforprovocativetherapy.com

to ensure that there are proper standards of training and that all approved AFPT members have an appropriate level of skills. In 2009 we are running a series of workshops that will begin to teach this approach to a professional standard and in the spirit of PT demonstrated by Frank himself. In May 2009 I will be co training with Frank in the UK in the first of a series of events, before running my own Provocative Change Works events in the USA and Europe.