Provocative Change Works

Nick Kemp provokes client responses

2009-08-27T07:02:00.000-07:00

Here is an example of a session I did in one of the recent Warsaw workshops which is a good example of using the Provocative approach

Nick Kemp interviewed on PCW in Poland

2009-08-21T00:19:00.000-07:00

Nick Kemp demonstrates Pivot Grammar

2009-08-19T12:12:00.000-07:00

Provocative Change Works in Warsaw 2009

2009-08-18T11:35:00.000-07:00

Nick Kemp using pauses to provoke a client in the August 2009 workshop

Warsaw

2009-08-18T00:17:00.001-07:00

Just got back from 3 great day in Warsaw teaching the first of two 3 day Provocative Change Works events

Frank Farrelly talks about Nick Kemp

2009-08-02T13:19:00.000-07:00

Knock offs, including "Provocative Hypnosis"

2009-07-14T14:03:00.000-07:00

In 1990 I had a wonderful holiday in Thailand and although it was a 16 hour flight, both the people and the scenery were fantastic! I did however notice that most of what were sold in stores and on the streets are would we would refer to as “knock offs” You could get almost anything from the famous Rolex fakes to all manner of CDs and tapes, all of which were copies of originals.
One definition of a “knock off” is
“Goods produced with the intent to take advantage of the established worth of the previous product”
It occurs to me that just as there are physical goods that fall into this category, there are also numerous attempts to take advantage of well known brands in the world of changework, where simply adding a prefix to an existing well known therapy then tries to generate attention as if this were a new approach.
This practice is increasingly more common in the worlds of NLP and Hypnosis where a lot of selling training courses has become best described as pyramid selling with little regard to quality. Fortunately there are some skills based trainings around, but many of the big events focus more on cash generation than skill generation.
As for "knock offs" in the training arena, I groaned today when I saw a person attempt to link together “Hypnosis” and “Provocative” to recycle some very old ideas now with the usual rubber stamped “genius type” endorsement from a “big NLP name”. Of course Provocative Therapy was created by Frank Farrelly and this in my view is a blatant attempt to capitalize on this therapy with what appears to be a Frankenstein like mix of NLP techniques with a lack of duty of care towards clients. Provocative does not equate to “aggressive” and I can’t help thinking that the promoter of this “knock off” may have been better advised to call his approach “aggressive hypnosis”
In the world of music this behaviour also occurs with some bands imitating others to the nth degree. I remember hearing the form Marillion album and thinking it was almost an exact clone of previous Genesis and other albums. (Before you ask no I am not a Marillion fan!)
Fortunately most “knock off therapies” have a very short shelf life and then disappear without trace for good. (Except Marillion, who are still apparently doing rather well by embracing fan power on the internet?)
Ultimately just as with car boot sales many such knock off vendors then resurface as burger salesmen or in the world of change work, return to working in Car phone Warehouse or other such employers where at least they have to adhere to some quality of customer care...

Feedback from the NY event

2009-05-25T07:59:00.001-07:00

My name is John Johnson, and I attended the PCW workshop in NYC (aka New Yawk Ciddy) in May, 2009. I have some comments about it…Ok, here I go….I was amazing.

For those of you who are intrigued by the Icon Cards Nick developed..Wow...Get 'Em! Those cards reminded me that human are fast learners. Symbols have been used my humans to teach and to communicate for gazillions of years in all cultures. I was blown away by the “speed” of how I, and I am sure others, quickly absorbed the PCW strategies just by using the Icon Cards - as opposed to the rote listing of possibilities what one can do.

It's like all the details were summed in/as one essence, leaving room for more things to do and to feel pleasure as we learn. Hmmm, pleasure while you learn! What a concept!

It also dawned that Nick Kemp is the only one cataloguing Frank Farrelly’s work, and he is and will be the premier source for future generations….Wow!

Nowadays there are far too many theoreticians teaching workshops; that’s good; but it has its drawbacks. Theoreticians teach theory.
Period. Nick is teaching from direct experience (sure as well as theory).The difference is that Nick can concretely say, tell you and show you – what works and has works consistently. He, as I like to say – has real-world battle scars. He’s a hardened soldier (a Jedi
Knight) who can teach recruits from “direct experience.” There needs to be more people like him.

Oh, what a killer sense of humor.

Be Well

JJ

Provocative Icons System created by Nick Kemp

2009-04-24T00:46:00.000-07:00

I just posted about the new Provocative Icons system here at

http://www.nickkemp.com/blog/

I'll be using this approach in teaching at the UK, USA and European events in 2009

Also take a look at www.provocativechangeworks.com which is now even cooler than before!

Precise work and accelerated results in therapy

2009-02-11T09:16:00.000-08:00

Provocative Change Works focusses directly on creating new freedoms for the client in a non analytcal manner. Here I talk about this approach

New insights and approaches with Provocative Change Works

2009-01-27T09:05:00.000-08:00

I am in the process of writing up my latest findings in the development of Provocative Change Works approaches. I have been greatly encouraged by Steve Andreas a longstanding acclaimed NLP trainer who had a history of hosting Richard Bandler co creator on NLP in the 1980s and 1990s.

The benefits of working in private practice are that I am able to see at first hand the results of this approach. In many cases the outcomes can be quite excellent and I will be teaching the structure and process of my client sessions in my 2009 PCW events.

www.nickkemp.com

Provocative Change across the globe

2009-01-05T00:59:00.000-08:00

I am in the process of finalising the 2009 workshop schedule and am pleased that since the USA visit in 2008, I am getting increasing requests for overseas events.

The Provocative Change Works seminars will be highly interactive and teach how this PCW approach can be used to produce accelerated results with clients. Five years of learning Provocative Therapy from Frank Farrelly has proved essential in developing my own work and I am looking forward to sharing these insights overseas.

For current workshop schedule see www.nickkemptraining.com

Bye bye 2008

2008-12-31T00:21:00.000-08:00

Its almost 2009 and its going to be an excelent year for Provocative Change Works with workshops in the UK, USA and Europe as well as a bunch of new products. The networking in 2008 has certainly paid off and I look forward to presenting my latest discoveries using this approach. The first UK taster will be in April when I am presenting in the UK with Andrew T Austin, full details for booking can be found at www.nickkemptraining.com

More events and products for 2009

2008-12-14T02:18:00.001-08:00

I am pleased to confirm that there will be 2 workshops in Poland in 2009, the first being mid August 2009 and the second in late September 2009. The September event will be a more advanced workshop.
Below are some of what will be covered in these events

- Strategies and approaches created by Nick Kemp, drawing from his experience in many different modalities, to create accelerated change with clients
- How to combine conversational Provocative change with Ericksonian hypnosis
- Learning the Internal Voice Tempo exercises created by Nick Kemp for resolving anxiety related states (published by Steve Andreas)
- The use of humour to chain and sequence state changes with clients
- Learning the principles of Provocative Change Works
- Hypnotic brain gym exercises, including pivot grammar to develop linguistic excellence

I will also be releasing a number of products in 2009, including a DVD on expectational sets with clients and therapists, which was recorded with Frank Farrelly.

www.provocativechangeworks.com

Sept 2009 and its Poland

2008-11-10T06:36:00.000-08:00

Finalising dates for Provocative Change Works in Poland very soon! This will be the first time I have presented this work in this country and am really looking forward to it.

Details will appear on www.nickkemptraining.com

Stop Press - workshop news for 2009

2008-10-22T23:12:00.000-07:00

In the next few weeks I will be revealing dates for USA, UK and Euopean Provcative Change Works workshops! There will also be new products for 2009. Check the news section of www.nickkemp.com as well for other news!

More Provocative Change in Private Practice

2008-09-28T05:13:00.000-07:00

Since returning from the USA life has been extremely busy in private practice. Taking a two week break has really recharged the batteries to step back from the hustle and bustle of seeing so many private clients.

Discussing the Provocative Change Works approach with longstanding NLP Trainers and Practitioners has reinforced my view that this combined approach to private work is the most accelerated and comprehensive way of producing sucessful outcomes for clients. The key difference is that "the Provocative Element" ensures that the client is quickly moved from any "stuck state" to a greater state of well being. I have seen the equivilant of a whole month's worth of clients in just 2 weeks!

Discussing are in place for some very exciting new workshops and products for 2009, so watch this space!

Day 1 at the IASH Conference in San Francisco

2008-09-06T05:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the first presentation of two slots for the IASH conference in San Francisco. The challenge for me was to condense the PCW material down into a 90 minute slot and I reckon I did a pretty good job, with 4 demos and also getting the group to practice a PT exercise. This was the first ever presentation in the USA, so I was curious to see how it would go!

It was a packed room and kind of strange to have people videoing me and a bunch of folks with laptops taking notes! I am impressed with the IASH presenters and certainly am getting great feedback about the PCW approach!

The difference between Provocative Therapy & Provocative Change Works

2008-08-14T01:14:00.000-07:00

The differences between "Provocative Therapy" and "Provocative Change Works"
In recent times I was explaining to a colleague about the difference between Provocative Therapy and the Provocative Change Works approaches. The Provocative Change Works approach is very different in a number of respects to Frank Farrelly's Provocative Therapy which is detailed in the original book of the same name that was published in the mid 1970s.
Provocative Change Works uses the "provocative elements of communication" alongside NLP and hypnosis tools. I originally studied NLP with Richard Bandler who in my opinion was greatly influenced by Frank Farrelly. In a 2007 interview I did with Richard, he commented:
What I respect about Frank is that he stuck to his guns. No matter how much they told him therapy should be boring or how much they told him he was over the edge, what he noticed is he made people better
Richard Bandler
Although Frank does not describe what he does in Provocative Therapy as "hypnosis", many clients report going into "trance like states" This was certainly my experience when I first met him in 2004 and had my first interview with him!
In Provocative Change Works I combine Ericksonian hypnotic patterns with elements of Provocative Therapy. I have found this combination of tools to produce the fastest, most successful and lasting results when working with clients. This combined approach which I use in my private practice is demonstrated extensively on the "Provocative Change Works for Phobias" DVD set.
In classic Provocative Therapy the therapist will start the session with the question "What's the problem?" In Provocative Change Works I may use this approach during the session, but not always at the start of the session. This is of course very different from the NLP question "What do you want?"
In private practice I ask clients to complete a set of notes prior to seeing me in person and then begin the session by implementing "yes sets" to set the direction of the interview. Provocative Therapy also does not formally use sub modality work as found in NLP to change client states, but the Provocative Change Works approach does use this tool set alongside provoking the client while taking note of the different rep systems the client is using to feedback his or her responses.
Provocative Change Works also uses the "right here, right now" philosophy that Frank uses in Provocative Therapy and everything that occurs in the session is about what is happening in each moment and normally without many of the overt techniques used by some NLP practitioners. I have had excellent results working conversationally with clients without a great deal of "formal trance work" but do still use some hypnosis when working with clients. The "Internal Voice Tempo exercise" is one of the main approaches I use from the Provocative Change Works tool kit which is excellent for dealing with anxiety related issues. With Steve Andreas's encouragement (and editing!) I have written up this approach and published it in his online newsletter.
On the Provocative Change Works for Phobias DVD set, I provide an audio commentary during the needle phobia session where I describe how I switch between PT, NLP and trance work, and frequently chain specific states to produce successful outcomes for the client. There are many other differences between these two approaches, but it's true to say that Frank Farrelly, Richard Bandler and Milton Erickson are the primary influences in creating the Provocative Change Works approach with astoundingly effective results. I run trainings in both Provocative Therapy (in "the classical sense") and my own "Provocative Change Works" approach.

Nick Kemp

www.nickemp.com

Review of Provocative Therapy DVD set

2008-07-25T13:22:00.000-07:00

"This package is a real delight. For those who have been lucky enough to see Frank Farrelly in action it is reassurance that you really can believe that you saw what you saw. Provocative Therapy is so distinctive a form of therapy it is easy to think that, surely, it couldn't have been like that. It was. And for those who have yet to witness the burlesque of psychotherapy, these DVDs bring you closer than the pages of his book and even than audio recordings of his workshop sessions. Your next step is to get up there in the chair next to him and have the experience head-on. You can even get some sense of what that would be like because the DVDs offer different angles.
Provocative Therapy might seem strange, it might seem like fun, it might seem shocking, and it can be all of those but beyond that it's profound. The Provocative Therapy symbol is a harlequin, upside down, with one foot balancing the Eastern Yin-Yang symbol and the other holding its Western equivalent, the twin masks of Tragedy and Comedy. Psychotherapy, as a field, has tended to align itself with Tragedy though its aim is to assist the person to move on into the world of Comedy. Unfortunately, in Western culture it is Tragedy which has the cognitive kudos. The intellectual heavy-hitters steer clear of Comedy as it can bring their ivory edifices crashing down with ribald, thigh-slapping guffaws. Dangerous stuff, humour. Rigid ideas beware.
Frank Farrelly's form of psychotherapy mashes Tragedy and Comedy together in a head-on collision. What that provides for those who sit with him is a fresh, often a startlingly fresh, perspective on the ideas and feelings which are holding them in thrall. And, here, you see it in living colour.

There are three full client sessions, plus discussions on them with client and watching participants. There is also Frank's introduction to his work, a meanderingly lateral presentation that hops associatively, bip, bam, boom, from one thing to another, but conveys more of what he is about and of the man himself than any neat bullet-driven PowerPoint structure ever could.
It comes with extras, too: an audio CD of Nick Kemp interviewing Frank about his encounters with NLP's Richard Bandler and John Grinder, plus another audio CD of excerpts of Frank's reading his 'Me and God', thus far only published in German translation. You also get a booklet which is, itself, an estimable extra comprising an article by Nick Kemp along with one Frank co-authored in the 'Sixties. Hell, that's a long time ago, must be out-of-date by now. Nooooooooooo.

This package is a great way to introduce yourself (if you've missed out on it) or your friends to a psychotherapy that challenges so many of the ideas that have become the accepted wisdom of the field, yet maybe ain't so smart after all. Everybody with any interest in change work should take the Provocative Therapy challenge."

- Dr Graham Dawes reviewing the Provocative Therapy DVD set

See http://provocativetherapy.info/

Nick interviewed on what is Provocative Change Works

2008-07-24T12:22:00.000-07:00

This is now online

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtDQa3ypwP8

Removing a needle phobia

2008-07-24T04:36:00.000-07:00

Here is an excerpt from the Provocative Change Works for Phobias DVD set which shows me using this approach with Matt a needle phobic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-l2F5hI9BY

Provocative Changes Works is the process I use to provoke useful change in clients, allowing the client to easily moves from an unhelpful stuck state, to a greater state of personal freedom. This process can work both conversationally and through relaxation, using humour and the pointing out many of the absurdities and contradictions in society's stereotypical views on life. Provocative Change Works always focussing on the here and now with each client, rather than on past events. This is often done in an irreverent and good humoured manner, to produce accelerated change.

Crucially Provocative Change Works demonstrates that the client's ability to discover this change is not time based, but rather the manner in which each of us pays attention and what it is that each of us pays attention to, in any given moment."

Voice Tempo shift exercise

2008-07-12T01:15:00.000-07:00

I have just uploaded a clip of this approach which can be viewed here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FHIVIAyxhI

Provoking change in private practice

2008-06-29T14:21:00.000-07:00

I use the Provocative Change Works approach outlined on the http://www.provocativechangeworks.com/ site with most clients in private practice. Increasingly I have strayed away from trad NLP & Hypnosis to create a very different approach that really accelerates approaches with clients. I have discussed some of these approaches with Steve Andreas and wrote up the "Tempo exercise" for his USA online newsletter.

Influence of Frank Farrelly

2008-06-18T14:43:00.000-07:00

I speak regularly to Frank Farrelly the creator of Provocative Therapy on the phone. Sometimes it feels like I have been in a 4 year intensive Provocative Therapy workshop and as well as learning a massive amount from him, we have also become good friends. Provocative Change Works fuses the provocative element of Frank's work with Ericksonian hypnosis and other approaches to shift client states. I use this combination for all client conditions and have found humour to be the fastest catalyst for change.