What Is the 4Rs Protocol?

In the late 1990’s, when I first decided to train as a therapist, I wanted to find and train in the best therapy techniques available. I trained in psychology (including CBT, Systemic Therapy & Interpersonal Therapy); The Human Givens approach; Gestalt Therapy; clinical hypnosis, NLP, EFT, TFT, TPM and more. I have spent well over £60,000 studying the most highly regarded approaches and techniques available and that just in the first ten years of my training alone. Drawing from the best of these approaches, over time I have developed my own framework for explaining how problems are formed and in turn what needs to happen so they can often be quickly resolved. Once you know the points of leverage to address, it is possible to induce massive change easily and quickly. It is common in my sessions for major dramatic changes to happen in just one or two sessions even for chronic problems (see testimonials), and to have a turn around in chronic depression or anxiety in just 1-3 sessions. Past clients have variously described the 4Rs Protocol (in contrast to their previous experiences of mainstream therapy), as ‘dynamic’, ‘really interesting’ and ‘like nothing they have every experienced before’. This is because the 4Rs Protocol is not an intellectual talking therapy that talks at the client hoping that something will click. With the 4Rs Protocol the client immediately takes centre stage and feels involved as an active participant in an on-going feedback process that gets artfully leads them to access the problem, elicit the relevant information needed for change, and then to employ a range of tried and tested techniques to effect those changes.

In terms of its development, I have done three soft-launches to date:
In 2013 I did a one-day workshop on what was then called ‘EPRT’. Testimonials below are taken from attendees on that workshop. I then experimented with another one-day workshop in Nov 2016. However, since then I have developed and revised my approach and training methods further to include more material previously not shared culminating in a two-day workshop in Melbourne, Australia in 2017. As always, I always developing my training methods, incorporating feedback to make the training as impactful as possible.

Key Points of The 4Rs Approach

As a style of therapy the 4Rs Approach is:

• Solution-Focused
• Systems & Parts Orientated
• Interactive & Feedback based
• Creative – both in the use of ‘reframes’ and techniques employed
• Experiential (emotions and ‘live’ feelings) vs Intellectual

More information on using the 4R’s approach combined with hypnosis can be found here in Adam Eason’s interview Felix Economakis.

What Are The 4Rs?

‘R’ – represents more of a ‘stage’ of what to do next. Within that stage we are aiming for a couple of things (which coincidentally all seem to start with an ‘R’).

R – RAPPORT All have LONG & SHORT FORMS

R – RECONCILIATION (a speedy and advanced form of Parts Therapy)

R – RESPONSIBILITY (for change, with a resolve towards new goals)

R – REWIRE (using either a hypnosis or non-hypnosis option )

It’s actually less a matter of ‘what’ to do and more about ‘how’ to do it. In theory selling for instance is simple. You explain the benefits of the product, but the real skill in selling is being sophisticated in all aspects of communication – cultivating rapport with your customer, understanding their needs, reassuring them by addressing their concerns, drawing value to a product, handling objections… all very valuable skills in therapy where we are selling the idea of a healthier alternative way of thinking, feeling and being.

Who Is This Protocol For?

The 4R’s is an invaluable framework for psychologists, psychotherapists, counsellors hypnotherapists and NLP Practitioner.

As mentioned many conventional psychological and psychotherapeutic approaches tend to focus on intellectual approaches to effect changes. They tend to lack the necessary ‘firepower’ to effect those changes.

Hypnotherapists can use the 4R’s either as a standalone therapy for clients who are not good hypnotees, or as a preparation for any hypnosis. I have found my success rates with hypnosis shot up whenever I used 4Rs beforehand. 4Rs not only helps build rapport and trust but crucially it allows you to explore secondary gains and elicit subconscious objections in advance. This will help you to clarify and understand the real state of affairs you are working on, and where to direct the focus of your attention. Don’t go blind into hypnosis with a client hoping something will stick. Go in armed with knowledge about where you need to work and what you need to do.  4Rs incorporates many of the successful principles of good hypnosis for inducing change, but some simple and effective hypnosis inductions will be taught in order to help integrate and consolidate the changes gained from 4Rs. Moreover, with the 4Rs it’s possible to opt out of hypnosis altogether if the client feels uncomfortable. This is because change does not depend on hypnosis or depth of hypnosis. The change is done through effective negotiation and the set-up.

NLP practitioners & change workers Most NLP trainings teach some clever techniques but they fall short on providing some kind of coherent framework for working through a problem with a client. I have heard many NLP practitioners report feeling stranded out at sea once their stock techniques fail to have the desired impact. Lacking a comprehensive flow chart to guide them, they can very quickly feel lost. Training in 4Rs provides invaluable breadth and depth to your work so you will have a framework for change to guide you. There is also scope to incorporate your own NLP short interventions and techniques into the modular format itself.

Benefits of Training in 4Rs

• Take the worry out of whether your hypnosis will work or not
• Build better rapport and involvement with your client
• Be able to address blocks in therapy that previously stumped you
• Identify ecological objections, secondary gains & other variables in advance of interventions used
• Elicit the real criteria needed for change
• Have a more comprehensive understanding of the relationship between the conscious and subconscious mind
• Have access to a range of powerful processing and releasing techniques that will pay for themselves many times over
• Learn some highly effective reframes that quickly change patients’ perspectives
• Be able to work in a more dynamic and interactive way
• Working in a creative, flexible and interactive way is also enjoyable for the client and the therapist.
• Increase your income by being able to offer more to your clients, increase your success and referral rate

It doesn’t matter whether you are starting out or already an experienced practitioner. You will learn a whole range of useful ideas, tips, and techniques that will immediately benefit you and your clients.