Meet The Assistants 2: June O'Driscoll - in her own words

PROFILE

Delegates attending the NLP Life Training NLP Practitioner and NLP Master Practitioner courses will often be met by the bubbly June O'Driscoll on the front desk.  June is a well respected NLP Trainer and hypnotherapist.  Here, she talks about the effect NLP had on her life, and the work that she does with NLP.

I first got into NLP because I had a flying phobia.  I felt it was a really severe flying phobia and I needed some help with it.  I thought I was booking up with Paul McKenna on a one-to-one basis, so that he would get rid of it, but somehow I'd got hold of the wrong end of the stick.  So when I turned up at the hotel in London and saw a lot of other people, I thought: "Oh, I think I might have got things a bit wrong, here! “

Back then I didn't know anything about NLP, so in I went to the seminar room not knowing what to expect.  I really enjoyed the first day with all the stories that were being told, and was impressed by it all.  But I still had my flying phobia, of course. Well, the next morning Richard Bandler asked us if anyone in the room had a phobia, I felt myself sink in the chair and I was feeling quite anxious, the people around me where pointing at me, letting Richard know that I was terrified.  Then Richard called me up on stage.  I can’t remember all that he said, but I felt great - and twenty minutes later my life had completely changed.  I came off the stage with no phobia, a lot of laughter and just this thirst for more knowledge about NLP.  That was in April 2006.  And, I haven't looked back since. 

Straight after that course I did the Master Practitioner Course with Richard Bandler and made sure I practised with a lot of people.  Then, three months later I did the Master Practitioner Course again to prepare me for Training NLP. I then did Trainer Training all in the same year. 

So I started NLP on that day when I didn't know what I'd let myself in for - and I've not stopped since.  After a little while, I could see that this was really right for me and that using NLP to help others change was what I really wanted to do.  I had a very good job as an accountant and Senior Manager and I'd been in the business and corporate world for 21 years.  I thought long and hard about my future and what I really would like to do. And then I made my decision. I gave up my previous career and started my own training school.  Now, I see private clients and I run my own courses, my own pracs, master pracs, hypnotherapy, reiki and business courses.  I also do lots of one to ones, and am also fortunate to be able to work with a community interest company. I am always learning a lot.  It's lovely.  And you know what?  It never feels like it's work!

When I assist on the courses with Richard and John, my role is to do whatever is asked of me to make the seminar the best it can be. So, I'm here
to support the trainers and I'm here to help the delegates.  If they get stuck with anything, I'm in the background to assist them, in whatever way the Trainers want them to be assisted.   

 And I'm also here to add to the fantastic energy in the assisting team, which helps the delegates to have fun while they are learning, and to have a great experience from the time they come through the door on the first morning.

It's been an amazing journey.  I take time away from my own business to come here, and I do it because, the truth is, you never stop learning from Richard, John and Kathleen. They work at a lot of levels at the same time. So it's good to keep coming back and learning more.

My own business is called Thoughtitude and I am based at Gatwick.  I train NLP courses with another assistant, Geoff Rolls, who also has his own business.  When we train NLP courses, Geoff and I work under my company name, and we do some brilliant courses, which are great fun.  We work really well together.  We've got completely opposite styles and we just make a perfect mix together. 

We're doing practitioner and master practitioner courses, Introductory days, presentation skills and are looking at doing an NLP for business course, too. 

Individually I also teach hypnotherapy, Reiki and run weight loss seminars using NLP techniques.  In the corporate world I coach and present various workshops for staff development, reducing stress and building confidence

It's a really interesting and varied job.  And it's a whole new career that started from Richard helping me change the process that I used to call ‘ my fear of flying!’   Isn't that just great?

June O'Driscoll's website can be found at www.thoughtitude.com

For more information about training with Richard Bandler, please call 0845 260 7930, or click here, now.