Five methods, one approach.

Which methods does IEMT coach Mitchel use, and when?

IEMT is the core — for patterns that no longer shift through thinking. Alongside it I draw on Metaphors of Movement, Wholeness Work, Neurogram and NLP where they fit. Which method when is a choice made in the moment, not a fixed protocol set in advance.

IEMT — the core of the work

IEMT stands for Integral Eye Movement Technique — pronounced /aɪ-iː-ɛm-tiː/ (each letter separately: eye-ee-em-tee) — developed by Andrew T. Austin, building on the work of Steve and Connirae Andreas and David Grove. Until 2026 it was called "Therapy"; the name was changed internationally for professional clarity. The method itself is unchanged. It works on the layer of emotional and identity imprints — the ingrained ways someone has learned to feel or to be — and on the patterns of chronicity that keep a problem from resolving on its own.

In a session you see that as a specific moment where we use a set of eye movements while you hold something in mind — a feeling, a reaction, a pattern. That moment is brief, methodical, and quiet. You don't need to explain the content of what was happening in order to work on the layer where it sits. It works, or this time it doesn't — that's information too. I don't work under the Dutch healthcare framework (Wkkgz); in case of acute psychiatric distress, regulated care is the first step. Coaching can then run alongside. When there's an ongoing treatment, I reach out to your practitioner with your consent.

Read the full explanation of IEMT →

In March 2026, Maastricht University published the first university-based study of IEMT's eye-movement technique. Read the summary →

Metaphors of Movement — related and strong in a business context

Metaphors of Movement (MOM) was once part of IEMT and later became a modality in its own right, because it had grown distinct enough to stand on its own. It works with the imagery people use about themselves — "I'm stuck", "my back is against the wall", "I don't know which way to turn" — and moves along with that imagery to shift something that direct conversation can't reach.

In professional coaching — especially around decision-making, leadership, or feeling locked into a role — MOM is often powerful. I don't wheel it out as a standard module; I use it when the client's own language calls for it. IEMT and MOM work well together and reinforce one another.

Wholeness Work — for the layers underneath

Wholeness Work was developed by Connirae Andreas. Where IEMT works on active patterns, Wholeness goes deeper: it works on the identification through which a pattern keeps itself in place. It doesn't ask for analysis — it asks for a specific way of giving attention through which something can release without needing to be understood.

I bring this in when IEMT alone doesn't reach the core, or when someone is looking for a more fundamental shift than a change in surface reaction. Not every client works this way — it depends on the theme and on where someone is.

Neurogram — making profile and pattern visible

Neurogram was developed by Joost van der Leij. It combines Cybernetic Big Five, the Enneagram, and Panksepp (a neurobiological frame around basic emotional systems) into a profile that reveals which patterns fit your particular brain architecture.

I don't use this in every session. When it fits — often early in a trajectory — it gives a sharp view of what we're working with. For some clients Neurogram is a useful starting point; for others it isn't needed.

NLP — the skills layer and language

NLP became widely known through Richard Bandler and John Grinder. In my work it's the skills layer: how you recognise a pattern in someone's language, how you help someone distinguish between perception and interpretation, how you guide subtle shifts in communication.

NLP isn't a method I sell as an "NLP session". It's integrated into how I listen, observe, and respond. So it doesn't appear separately on the rate card — it runs through everything.

How they work together

The five frames aren't a step-by-step plan. They're a palette. In an intake or first session I form a picture of where your theme sits, which layer is most likely to open, and what your preference is. Then we work — and while we work, I move between approaches as needed.

Sometimes that means IEMT as the main instrument with a Wholeness movement here and there. Sometimes it starts with a Neurogram profile to get clarity before we use IEMT on a specific pattern. Sometimes it's much more conversation than technique. The method follows the work, not the other way around.

Which pattern is active for you?

Within IEMT we distinguish five primary patterns of chronicity (plus one secondary). A short self-scan can show you which pattern is most active for you right now. Not a diagnosis — a mirror.

Take the self-scan

What this work is not

The line sits on what I offer, not on what IEMT as a method can do. Not therapy for serious psychiatric conditions, not crisis support, not medical treatment — regulated care exists for that.

Methodologically I don't analyse the why. IEMT works differently. We start with the emotional charge in the here and now. Targeted questions about that charge — how strong, how familiar, when first — surface a memory. Which memory, and how vivid it is, doesn't matter: whatever is present in your awareness at that moment works. That memory is where we work, with calibrated eye movements. The memory fades during the process, the emotional charge subsides, and the underlying pattern shifts. That's the core of the method, not a side-effect. If what you primarily want is to understand and analyse, this isn't the right approach.

What it is: personal coaching for people who already know a lot about their pattern and notice that knowing more isn't changing anything anymore. That's a specific audience — not everyone fits, and for those who don't I'm glad to think along about what would.

What a trajectory is built on

Most trajectories run between six and nine sessions of 60 to 90 minutes, with one to two weeks between appointments. That spacing is deliberate — the real integration often happens between sessions. Not in my practice, but in your daily life.

Six is usually enough for specific patterns. Nine for themes that sit deeper or touch multiple layers. Longer than nine is rarely needed; if it looks like it might be, that usually means there's something else in play that we need to name first.

My approach not for you?

Then you can turn to other approved trainers within The Association. I can warmly recommend Roni Matar and Andrew T. Austin — I have learned a lot from them.