Thanks Mike I'll put something down here... from the top of my head (quick and horrible, as my brothers cooking)

As of late, I've been working a lot with administrating forumgroups, such as this. Mainly to keep an eye out on what is being said, "guiding" those who keep ending up misunderstood and to make sure discussions are going as planned.

MindCandy: Most people have little, if any experience with forums. Forgotten skills, written rethorics and the ability to transform a verbal sentence to something written, has a comeback today... Amazingly, the "good old" generation, accustomed to writing letters are more successful there, (50+ years old) while the "young" generation need to be guided, corrected and forced to explain things over and over. (25-35 years old). Us norwegians score high in any case because, as mike said, "Your'e absolutely right, because you have a dialect"

Anyway, if you work with a client pro chat (this is a good replacement for coaching by phone in between the coaching sessions), you will notice he/she will get more accustomed to using the chat interface. Establishing the proper rapport and trust in a real life meeting at first certainly helps, but if you are unable to do this (I, for one, refuse to go to china once a week to consult someone), you will most likely have to do quite a job before you meet. The fact that your client does not see you can act both as an advantage and a disadvantage. After talking to a coleague of mine about this, we figured out that the big challenge is to avoid ending up as some kind of "oracle", which is a common problem when dealing with someone through alternative communication.

What's the good thing about Live online therapy/coaching

• It's "safe" for the client. He/She may want to meet in reality after consulting pro chat.
• The client may feel less bound by his/hers filters and can be more open
• You can reach clients all over the world
• When you use a chat interface, it's far more easier to "step out of" a problem for the client.
• It's new, therefore exciting to work with

What's the challenges?

• You cannot calibrate the way you are used to.
• Establishing good rapport is a process that never ends, and can be broken far easier than in a real life meeting.
• It's a hassle (in my opinion) to deal with billing.
• If you lack the neccecary background information, you will most likely use most of the time figuring out what the problem is.
• There are Limitations to how much you can "build someone up" emotionally, as you have no visual contact.

Eventually, the skills needed to help someone change via Mail, Forums or Live chat are different than "real life" skills.

cheers all

I love this thread

Ever since I started with NLP, I used chat interfaces to use my "new knowledge". After a few years with this, I also came to the conclution that you can do a great deal more than what you would think is possible through either live chat or even mail.

I have been talking to people used to chat interfaces, usage of smilies and certain expressions (to replace body language). You'd be amazed how good you can make someone feel just through MSN Messenger, Relay chat (IRC) or other forms of live chat.

Here's an example of how you can use smilies (in a funny say  )

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"Aaah... I see your problem. You get this feeling everytime you meet this person when you really want to have a  feeling. I think i have an idea here."

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Besides what mike mentioned you also have to concider this:

• It's hard to calibrate, so you *will* find yourself "fishing" far more at first. using neutral words that cannot be misinterpreted is a good start.
• Questions is probably your key to success.Most people find it hard to express their feelings accurately when they're sitting in front of a computer.
• You can use onomatopoetic words. ("Shazam! KaBoom!".. it works)
• Transform and Utilize techniques if you need them. Logical levels, Visual Squash, Disney etc.
• Concider which issues you *can* deal with through chat. You don't want to see "Client XYZ left the chat" (in tears).
• Misunderstandings occur. Don't use long sentences. one line at a time
• Get enough background information if you have a scheduled online meeting. I usually ask the client to write down the issues, what he wants, and when he wants the change to take place. (and how good he would feel about that ;))

Aside from that, don't drink coffee over your keyboard and for heavens sake, see to it that you have a stable internet connection before you even concider starting to do this

Hey Mike

One of our trainers here in Norway is very interested in Huna and she's told us fairly much about the idea, philosophy and litterature.

The reason why NLP and Huna work so well together is that both share the same broad view on what works and what doesn't work, an analyzing and respectful way of looking into other schools of treatment.

If you have a look at Neuro Energetics' page, you will find several comparitions between their work (Humanistic Neuro linguistic Psychology) and Huna. Such as the definition of "The void", some State-work (I think they call it "Chi ball"... much the same as stacking anchors) and thoughs around Energy (physical and spiritual).

In my opinion, Huna is a little confusing and hard to define... Todays Huna isn't something you can put in a box and say "this is it", as it draws (or gave) elements from Asian, Australian and native American cultures.

If you really want to experience Huna, I sugesst you call Tad in hawaii and make him do a Kahuna-pool dance ;)

cheers