About Andy Hunt
I work with people who have never felt good enough, to help them accept and value themselves for who they really are.
On this site you will find information about one-to-one therapy services, training for laypeople and professionals, articles and books I have written about therapy and personal change.
I specialise in using Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) and Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and this is reflected in my work and this website.
I like the fact that you come across as very human and you avoid jargon and intellectualising things. I am not a ‘theory’ type of person I don’t need to know how it works only that is does. You always give me food for thought with the creative way you bring EFT in to every day life. It’s always down to earth and well written with lots of humour. You never come across as pushy or arrogant.
Lynn Marshall Registered Mental Health Nurse (RMN)
I went to Nottingham University in 1977 to study Chemistry (because I didn’t get good enough grades to get into medical school). When I got my BSc I thought that I might be a science teacher and took post graduate teacher training, which made it clear to me that I didn’t really want to be a secondary school teacher.
I’ve had a variety of jobs including: milkman, assistant steward in a cafeteria on an Irish Sea ferry, a Residential Social Worker at a centre for delinquent teenagers, the Assistant Head of Youth Centre in Brixton, in Inner London, and short periods as a grape picker in Switzerland, a spring grinder(!) in Germany and a night porter and barman.
In 1990 I moved to the North East of England to take an MSc in Software Engineering course in Newcastle upon Tyne, eventually finding work as a programmer specialising in image analysis programming for medical and scientific applications. At that time I became a practising Buddhist.
In 2000 I rekindled my long interest in NLP, which I first discovered in university, by taking a NLP Practitioner training, which led to even more NLP training and eventually finding and learning EFT.
In 2005, I abandoned the software engineering day job and started work as a self-employed therapist and trainer.
I now live by the sea in Blyth, Northumberland, with my partner Karen.
Why I do this work
As is often the case with people in the counselling/therapy professions my interest in this work grew out of my own history and needs.
A very long time ago, I was a rather shy, introspective teenager that got interested in psychology as a way of better understanding myself and getting along with others.
At university although I didn’t study psychology I read a lot about it and took part in some encounter groups (which were big in the 70s) and got interested in counselling.
After university, at the tender age of 22, I took a three year part time Person Centred counselling diploma course with the Person Centred Approach Institute, an organisation associated with Carl Rogers the originator of Person Centred counselling.
When I had completed this training I realised that I wasn’t ready yet to be a counsellor and needed much more life experience to be effective; so I went into the variety of jobs that eventually led me to be a software engineer.
In 2000, I started to learn NLP in earnest and then EFT. Using these techniques consistently I began to notice profound shifts in my experience. Feeling much more at ease with myself than I had ever done before.
Having helped myself, I wanted to help other people, so I trained to be a Master Practitioner and Trainer of NLP and a Level 3 Practitioner and Trainer of EFT. I am a member of EFT International which is my professional body.
Many practitioners are drawn to the work that resonates with their own situation and needs. Since I had been most affected by issues of poor self acceptance and limiting beliefs I naturally gravitated towards this kind of work.
Now I specialise in working with people who were criticised as children and still feel criticised now to feel good enough and happy to be themselves.
From Carl Rogers To Identity Healing
On 22nd March 2018 I had the pleasure of presenting this talk to an audience of counsellors and counselling students at Tyne Met College.
It’s a personal account of the development of the Identity Healing processes that I use with my clients.
The talk is about how a shy introverted teenager who didn’t feel quite good enough developed the process that helped himself and helps others.
This 40 year journey includes encounter groups, Carl Rogers, Buddhism, NLP, introductions to inner children, EFT (aka Tapping), how our younger selves get stuck and one way of getting unstuck.