About me

The EFT Cafe is the brain child of Andy Hunt of Practical Wellbeing who works as a therapist and trainer specialising in helping people free themselves  from the past so they can live more fully in the present

Many people feel as though their past is running their present. They don’t want it to be that way, but they don’t know how to get free from the effects of their earlier experiences.

My therapy and training practice is all about helping people let go of the influence of the past so that they can:

• be free of the effects of trauma
• accept themselves and be comfortable in their own skin
• let go of old limitations and get out of their own way

On the Practical Wellbeing website you will find information about one-to-one therapy services, training for laypeople and professionals, articles and books I have written about therapy and personal change.

I specialise in using Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) and Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and this is reflected in my work and this website.

I like the fact that you come across as very human and you avoid jargon and intellectualising things. I am not a “theory” type of person – I don’t need to know how it works only that is does. You always give me food for thought with the creative way you bring EFT in to every day life. It’s always down to earth and well written with lots of humour. You never come across as pushy or arrogant
– Lynn Marshall – Registered Mental Health Nurse (RMN)

About Andy Hunt #

I grew up on Anglesey, in North West Wales (about as far west as you can go before falling into the Irish Sea).

I went to Nottingham University in 1977 to study Chemistry (because I didn’t get good enough grades to get into medical school).

When I got my BSc I thought that I might be a science teacher and took post graduate teacher training, which made it clear to me that I didn’t really want to be a secondary school teacher.

I’ve had a variety of jobs including: milkman, assistant steward in a cafeteria on an Irish Sea ferry, a Residential Social Worker at a centre for delinquent teenagers, the Assistant Head of Youth Centre in Brixham, inner London, and short periods as a grape picker in Switzerland, a spring grinder(!) in Germany and a night porter and barman.

In 1990 I moved to the North East of England to take an MSc in Software Engineering course in Newcastle upon Tyne, eventually finding work as a programmer specialising in image analysis programming for medical and scientific applications. At that time I became a practising Buddhist.

In 2000 I rekindled my long interest in NLP, which I first discovered in university, by taking a NLP Practitioner training, which led to even more NLP training and eventually finding and learning EFT.

In 2005, I abandoned the software engineering day job and started work as a self-employed therapist and trainer.

I now live by the sea in Blyth, Northumberland, with my partner Karen.

Why I do this work #

As is often the case with people in the counselling/therapy professions my interest in this work grew out of my own history and needs.

A very long time ago, I was a rather shy, introspective teenager that got interested in psychology as a way of better understanding myself and getting along with others.

At university although I didn’t study psychology I read a lot about it and took part in some encounter groups (which were big in the 70s) and got interested in counselling.

After university, at the tender age of 22, I took a three year part time Person Centred counselling diploma course with the Person Centred Approach Institute, an organisation associated with Carl Rogers the originator of Person Centred counselling. He was a tutor on one of our weekend trainings, so I have the distinction of having received feedback on one of my training counselling sessions from Carl Rogers himself.

When I had completed this training I realised that I wasn’t ready yet to be a counsellor and needed much more life experience to be effective; so I went into the variety of jobs that eventually led me to be a software engineer.

In 2000, I started to learn NLP in earnest and then EFT. Using these techniques consistently I began to notice profound shifts in my experience. Feeling much more at ease with myself than I had ever done before.

Having helped myself, I wanted to help other people, so I trained to be a Master Practitioner and Trainer of NLP and a Level 3 Practitioner and Trainer of EFT. I am a member of the NLPtCA and the EFTInternational (previously known as AAMET).

Many practitioners are drawn to the work that resonates with their own situation and needs. Since I had been most affected by issues of poor self acceptance and limiting beliefs I naturally gravitated towards this kind of work.

Now I specialise in working with people who want to get over trauma, ease limiting beliefs and accept themselves for who they are.

If I had to sum up my approach to this kind of work in a sentence it would be: “suffering is over-rated, you can change if you want to and live your life in the present not the past (if you know how to do it)”.

If you are interested in this kind of work and how to do it, for yourself or others, you can find out about the EFT / NLP based therapy I do, EFTInternational accredited EFT trainings for laypeople and professionals, EFT workshops, books I have written to help you use EFT to let go of limiting beliefs and some of the EFT techniques I have created over the years.

You can also find a lot of articles about this kind of work and how you can help yourself be more fully yourself.