Andrew T. Austin, Neurolinguist
Based in Chichester, West Sussex, West Sussex, home to the famous Glorious Goodwood racecourse and Rolls-Royce Motors, Andrew T. Austin is a neurolinguist who specialises in psychiatric and neurological disorders.
Schooled in Qabalah and Tantric Yoga, Austin has been widely regarded as a renegade, heretic, practical joker or genius, depending on individual bias. Much of his work is designed to "shock" psychiatric professionals into thinking rationally rather than merely follow rules.
Having trained with notables such as Richard Bandler, Frank Farrelly, Sidney Rosen and many of the key name trainers in NLP, Austin counts as his friends Tom McKay and the legendary NLP trainer and businessman, Nick Kemp of Leeds, Yorkshire.
Much of Austin’s work has been influenced by the English psychiatrist and writer, R. D. Laing and anthropologist Gregory Bateson, especially Bateson’s Double Bind Theory of Schizophrenia.
One of the core aspects to Austin’s work is the central belief that submodalities as expressed through language give us direct access to the right, or non-dominant, cerebral hemisphere. Austin claims that whilst the content of communication provides the framework or subject matter, it is the analogical component, or submodality set that convey the relationship of the communicator to the subject matter.
He simplifies with the following: “Imagine that the lyrics to your favourite song are the part that tell you what the song is about – but it is the music, the tune, rhythm, the melody etc that convey how you feel about that song.”
Having worked as a registered nurse in a previous life in Neurosurgery and Neurology, Austin’s popular hypnosis and NLP lectures reflect his bias towards neurology and criticism of contemporary psychiatric practices. Much of his teaching work aims to promote a better understanding of neurology amongst NLP practitioners, hypnotherapists and psychotherapists as he believes that “most NLP practitioners wouldn’t know what a neural pathway was even if it came up and bit them on the medulla.”
Austin continues to emphasise a practical and working knowledge of applied neurology as an essential tool to all clinicians offering counselling, psychotherapy and other forms of changework and is the founder and co-ordinator of The South Hants Hypnosis and NLP Study Group
His website on Brain, Mind and Language, www.23NLPeople.com continues to receive critical acclaim for its original and often controversial articles and is listed by an increasing number of universities as reccomended reading to psychology and health care students.
Links http://www.23NLPeople.com Brain, Mind and Language: 23NLPeople.com http://www.23nlpeople.com/Hypnosis/Events.htm South Hants Hypnosis and NLP Study Group http://tranceformingnlp.com Nick Kemp - Tranceforming NLP http://www.mackaynlpsolutions.com Tom McKay - NLP Solutions