The person behind the work
Andrew T. Austin developed Integral Eye Movement Therapy Technique (IEMT) and Metaphors of Movement (MoM). His career brings together therapeutic practice, international teaching and writing.
IEMT is a rapidly growing therapeutic modality that has some analogies to EMDR, whilst Metaphors of Movement is a model for exploring the hidden mind which has many therapeutic applications. Both have become recognised modalities and are listed in The SAGE Encyclopedia of Theory in Counseling and Psychotherapy.
Andrew has a specialist interest in the “schizophrenias” and anxiety and has been heavily influenced by the writings of notables such as R.D. Laing, Gregory Bateson and Thomas Szasz.
Andrew qualified as a registered general nurse in 1992. He was not a registered mental health nurse, as is sometimes reported.
Apart from his original nurse training, Andrew has no university-level qualifications. His subsequent training has been through independent courses, including NLP and hypnosis.
When teaching, he is usually the least formally qualified person in the room. He shares Ivan Illich’s view that learning and competence should not be confused with formal schooling:
“The public is indoctrinated to believe that skills are valuable and reliable only if they are the result of formal schooling.”
Ivan Illich
“Schools confuse process and substance. Once these become blurred, a new logic is assumed: the more treatment there is, the better are the results; or, escalation leads to success. The pupil is thereby ‘schooled’ to confuse teaching with learning, grade advancement with education, a diploma with competence, and fluency with the ability to say something new.”
Ivan Illich
From practice to ideas
Andrew’s writing and teaching draw on his experience in therapeutic practice and his interest in the patterns of language, emotion and identity.
The Rainbow Machine
Tales from a Neurolinguist’s Journal
The Rainbow Machine: Tales from a Neurolinguist’s Journal brings together stories from his work. It was prefaced and edited by Steve Andreas and published by Real People Press.
Experience & development
Selected milestones
These are a selection of key events in Andrew’s professional development and work. They do not comprise a full CV.
- 1990
Joined Zayin Lodge, Southampton, IOK.
- 1992
Qualified as a registered general nurse (PIN: 89I2335E). Registration expired in 2010.
- 1994–1995
Training in Ericksonian Hypnotherapy.
- 1996
Four-month placement at the British Military Hospital, Rinteln, Germany.
Formation of The Southampton Hypnosis Study Group.
- 1996–1999
Worked part-time on the bank for a number of community mental health residential organisations.
- 1997
Level 1 Counselling certification.
- 1998
NLP Practitioner training.
- 1999
Resuscitation training.
- 2000
Stopped working in clinical settings and moved to occupational health.
Ergonomics certification.
Master Practitioner of NLP.
- 2002
NLP Master Practitioner training.
- 2004
Automated External Defibrillation and Oxygen Therapy certification.
The Fresh Brain Company Ltd incorporated.
- 2004, 2005 & 2006
Provocative Therapy with Frank Farrelly.
- 2006
NEBOSH Level 3 certification in Occupational Health and Safety.
- 2007
NLP Trainers Training.
- 2008
Integral Eye Movement Therapy Technique (IEMT) formalised into a two-day training format.
- 2014
Joined Shemyaza Lodge, Brighton, Ordo Templi Orientis.
- 2015
The Association for IEMT Practitioners Ltd incorporated.
Speaking out
Andrew T. Austin is more than willing to speak out about the narcissism that is rife within the therapeutic professions and, as such, draws a lot of negative commentaries, especially from the “NLP community” described by Austin as “mouldy.”