About Us
The Point Taken Team
The Point Taken Team is lead by Helen Drake. Helen is
supported and assisted by a talented and growing team. Each member of the team
brings their own authenticity and uniqueness that combines to creates a safe,
creative, fun and challenging learning space. You’ll find short paragraphs
about each of us below.
Helen
Drake
Helen is an
internationally accredited NLP Trainer with INLPTA. A qualified
Psychotherapist, she is passionate about understanding what it really means to
live a meaningful and purposeful life. She loves sharing all her discoveries
with others and facilitating them to do the same.
With over ten
year’s experience of working in the field of Human Development, Helen is one of
today’s most innovative NLP trainers. She believes anything is possible for the
people she trains, and strives to ensure that they soon believe the same about
themselves.
Helen has an
‘inclusive’ style and connects easily with people and elegantly facilitates
people to recognise their own excellence.
Jo
Sayers
Helen met Jo back
in the 1990’s when Jo was a member of a 16 strong coaching team led by Helen on
a large NLP Practitioner programme. Jo is a former Project Manager and
Consultant within the IT industry. She is a certified NLP Trainer and Coach and
regularly trains throughout Ireland and the UK. Known for her clarity, warmth
and gentleness, Jo utilises these skills in all that she does and believes that
it is important to deliver the practical applications of NLP in her trainings.
With a ‘hands on’ style, Jo brings to the training her strong practical
business coaching and consultancy experience. She achieves significant and
powerful results with her clients and has built a
strong reputation of results focussed training and development.
Ali Plowright
Helen and Ali met
through the pioneering work of Stephen Gilligan.
Katy Cox
Katy arrived at
NLP through career coaching.� She first
met Helen at a local college where Helen was teaching an NLP & Life Skills
course. After the evening class she decided to do her Practitioner training.
Life changing decisions quickly followed. Giving up her day job as a successful
Senior Marketing Executive, she decided to travel around the South Pacific. Two
years later, Katy now runs her own successful consultancy, facilitation and
coaching business in the film industry. With a deep desire to learn more, Katy
has assisted on several NLP trainings and is a sought after coach on our
trainings.
Phoebe White
Phoebe met Helen
through a colleague of hers who had assisted on one of Helen’s programmes.
After undertaking a one day Introduction to NLP course with Helen, it wasn’t
long before she decided to take her Practitioner training and shortly
afterwards her Master Practitioner training. With such a keen interest in
personal development Phoebe assisted on several NLP trainings and quickly
became a trusted and valued member of the Point Taken team. She ran the
Practice Groups and more recently took over Helen’s role at a local college
teaching NLP & Life Skills.
Our Philosophy
If I were to ask you about what’s important to you, how
would you answer that? What are the kinds of things might you say?
And if you were
doing those things, what do you think you might be experiencing? Well, one
afternoon, I decided to sit quietly and listen to the sound of the wind and the
rain. What emerged was the capturing of a rich duality that has grown into a
liberating personal creed.
“And the day came - after a fiercely stormy night, when everything
began to settle after gusts of high winds, relentless magnums of strong rain,
fallen trees and stormy seas; the wind smiled at the sun and an interesting
dialogue began to emerge.”
“What are you passionate about asked the wind?
The sun smiled and gently whispered a few
words so quietly and softly that the wind could barely hear. She asked again –
only this time the wind softened and quietened, creating a space, an opening,
just loud enough for the sun’s truth to be revealed.�
"I want to know that its ok to shine, and when I’m weary, not to
shine.
I want to know that it’s ok to be happy and that it’s also ok to be
grumpy.
I want to be able to give and receive love knowing that sometimes I’ll
get hurt.
I want to be able to feel alive and also to retreat into my shell.
I want to have purpose and direction amid shapelessness and
formlessness.�
I want to be able to be my best and yet feel safe enough to screw up.
I want to feel connected and I know that I can also be alone.
I want to be able to be beautiful and to know it’s ok to be ugly
I want to be able to dream and know that my critic can dance with
my dreamer"
“Sounds like you want to be you" said the sun to the wind.
“Yes, just accepted for who I am” replied the wind
“But how do I do that said the sun to wind”?
�“Come and join us to find some
of the keys” said the sun
We hope you would like to come and join us
to find, explore and learn how to utilise some
of your keys - so that you too can be your best. Email me or
call me to find out more. I look forward to speaking to you soon.
Testimonials
All these comments are from real people and
have been reproduced, with permission from the feedback forms of various
participants.�
�“This is the best course I have ever
attended. Helen is kind, patient, considerate and lives everything she teaches.
A model of excellence. I look back to day 1 and where I am now. Wow! It’s been
a great journey. Thanks for everything”.
Deborah Carey, Director, Ontrac
“Fabulous, I
can honestly say, from someone who has had a lot of training “done” to me –
this was the first time I really knew there is a different and more fantastic
way of helping people to learn. Helen Drake is an outstanding trainer whose
passion and true belief in her work is a role model to us all. Thank you for
giving me the opportunity.
Linda McKane, Management Consultant, Concentric Consulting
“Liberating,
inspiring and thought provoking. It gave me the confidence to break boundaries.
Some of the material I found overwhelming and Helen’s faith in our ability took
me to places I hadn’t thought possible. It’s a journey I’ll be continuing”
Helen Cresswell, HR Manager, Hewlett
Packard
“Challenging,
hard work, mind opening, life changing, fun. Helen ensured that the pace was
right for everyone; the training was inclusive and provided a safe environment
for participants to take risks and learn. Energy levels were well maintained
and the validity of everyone’s learning acknowledged and celebrated.”
Christine Parrish, Consultant & Coach
“Fantastic,
well paced, plenty of variety. Visible results. Great fun. Has already and will
continue to help me achieve my outcomes and set new ones”.
John Beaumont, Project Manager, Heery International
“Caring,
thorough, clear, completely ecological, process driven and embedded. Helen has
the innate ability to relate to her students giving them freedom, space and the
confidence to be themselves and all that they can be”
Victoria Snook,HR Manager
“For me this
has been one of the most meaningful and transforming experiences ever. Helen is
so mindful of keeping everyone in a “safe” and good place throughout the training
whilst teaching to the highest standards at all times”
Cornelia Rang, Parent
�
“The best self
development course (and in fact training) I have ever done. The course just
went from strength to strength and all those submerged jewels surfaced as diamonds.
I enjoyed every minute of the course learning about myself and others. It was a
journey of self discovery that led to the pot of gold at the end of the
rainbow. Total fulfilment, laughter, tears, ultimate joy”
Debbie Bateson, Physiotherapist
Practice Groups
Our Practice Group
meets two monthly in Chiswick. It is a great opportunity to deepen your
connection with yourself and the world and it provides many different exciting
opportunities.
You can come along
as a participant and enjoy the theme and patterning being explored during any
of our evening sessions. You may like to offer to run an evening on a topic
that you are interested in. And for those of you really interested in
modelling, what a wonderful opportunity to lead an evening and test out, refine
and share your model with a wider, growing and curious community of fellow
explorers. Come along and have fun learning and growing.�
For more
information on our Practice Groups, email phoebe@pointtaken.com and she’ll give you all
the details. Cost �10 on the door please. We look forward to seeing you!
Ethical Practice
We support and
promote the Code of Ethics of all the organisations that we subscribe to either
as organisational or as individual members. As members of the ANLP,��
All ANLP members will:
1.
Respect the
dignity and worth of every human being, and their right to self determination.
2.
Strive to act
with integrity, independence and impartiality, avoiding conflicts of interests
and acting in accordance with the presuppositions of NLP.
3.
Represent
themselves and their qualifications and experience honestly and also (to the
best of their knowledge) the skills and experience of any third party to whom
they refer any of their customers/clients.
4.
Only practise
NLP within the limits of their competency and to their highest possible
standards; updating their skills and knowledge on a continuous basis.
5.
Represent NLP
interventions as an option and at no time as a certain solution for any given
problem.
6.
Act as
ambassadors for NLP, so that it is presented as a professional and effective
approach which can help people and organisations; avoiding bringing NLP into
disrepute.
7.
Act as
ambassadors for ANLP, to promote its purposes and activities to a wider
audience; avoiding bringing ANLP into disrepute.
8.
Respect
legitimate needs and requirements for confidentiality.
9.
Respect the
variety of different styles of NLP and complementary professions.
10. Promote fellow Members' interests and avoid
soliciting other Members' customers/clients away from them.
11. Ensure that clients / customers
expectations and the basis on which they will be met, are understood by both
parties and that contractual arrangements are not changed without appropriate
discussion.
12. Act with the law and not encourage, assist,
or collude with others engaged in unlawful conduct.
Other organizations that we are either individual or organisational
members of include the Association of Neuro Linguistic Programming (ANLP);
International NLP Trainers Association (INLPTA) and United Kingdom of
Psychotherapy (UKCP).
Why Point Taken?
We asked students
specifically why they chose to train with Point Taken. We haven’t listed these
points in any particular order. Instead we have taken the headings offered and
added a few words around each one to give you a sense of what matters to us and
some of what you may gain from choosing to come and learn with us.��
Emotionally safe learning space
Training takes
place in small groups. This allows the trainer to regulate the environment and
use their skills to create a relaxed, personalised setting in which bonds of
security naturally form.
High Trainer:Learner ratio
Our small group
sizes mean that learners always have a dedicated trainer available to them.
Time to Learn and Integrate
Our students tell
us that their NLP Practitioner programme has given them lifelong learning. They
also tell us that the time between modules can be as important as the modules
themselves. It is during this time that you get the opportunity to integrate
the material into your everyday life. It’s a bit like enjoying a great meal and
taking time to digest it before the next one!�
Ethical Use and Application of NLP
On the training
you will learn lots of powerful ways to bring about profound and lasting and
ecological change. Central to this is awareness and continuing emphasis on
safe, ethical and ecological practice.
Recognised Certification
There is no one
certification body in the provision of quality NLP Training.� Instead there are a range of different
bodies, all with different criteria. Our trainings meet and exceed the
requirements of the Association of NLP and our trainings are certificated
through the International NLP Trainers Association (INLPTA), who we believe,
have the highest standards in the field.
Time to Practice
You’ll be amazed
at the amount of material within the field of NLP. On our trainings, we think
that the learning is in the doing and with 130 hours of contact teaching time,
you can be sure that you’ll have the time you need to be able to practice what
you learn.
Commitment to Quality
At Point Taken
standards matter. We don’t deny that you may work a little harder at times on
our training though we know that when you look back, you’ll be glad that you
did. You can also be assured that we are actively involved in benchmarking our
standards in the UK and internationally so that we continually provide high
quality training.
Conscious and unconscious integration
Knowing what you
do and doing what you know are some of the hallmarks of mastery. On our
trainings we like to strike a healthy balance where we engage both the
conscious and the unconscious to facilitate generative and sustainable change.
Safe and fun learning space
On a Point Taken
training you can expect to benefit from learning how to co-create a safe
learning space so that you can enjoy yourself while learning at the same time.
Recommendation
Many of our
students come to us because they have witnessed change and growth, learning and
enhanced well-being in their friends, colleagues and people that matter most.
Flexible payment plans
Where we can, we
co-create opportunities so that easy payment plans can become possible
throughout the duration of the training.
Tapping into a growing network
When you join a
Point Taken training, you will have the opportunity to become part of a growing
community of people who take investing in themselves seriously. Over the years
we have seen our students join together to support one another both
professionally and personally.
Training Style
Our trainings are
limited to a maximum of 15 students. This gives all our students the
opportunity to gain variety in working with different people and yet at the
same time be small enough to ensure maximum attention and high quality on-going
feedback.
Coaching and Feedback
You can expect to
receive ongoing regular feedback throughout the training on your progress and
given regular opportunities to stretch yourself.
Extensive post-training relationship
We enjoy long and
meaningful relationships with our participants after training. Where we can
offer free advice, we do. Additionally available are our coaching, therapy and
consulting services.