The First Meeting

Nick Kemp first met Frank Farrelly in May 2004, when he attended a four-day Provocative Therapy workshop in the UK. The workshop became the inspiration for Nick’s original article on the Human Alchemy website, where he wrote about this extraordinary approach.

As an established NLP trainer, Nick was struck by the sophistication and speed of Frank’s work. It was unlike anything he had encountered before, and it became the starting point for a deeper involvement with Provocative Therapy and its later development into Provocative Change Works.

Early Projects with Frank

After meeting Frank, Nick approached him with two main requests. The first was to create a series of Provocative Therapy products, as there were no commercial products available anywhere in the world at that point. The second was to begin hosting Frank in the UK, so more people could learn about his work directly.

Recording Me and God

In May 2005, Frank flew to stay with Nick for a ten-day period. During that visit, they recorded Frank’s second book, Me and God, which had previously only been available in German and is now out of print.

Me and God was subsequently released as a five-CD set with Frank narrating the story. The audio set offers a valuable insight into Frank’s upbringing and the influences that later led him to create his powerful therapeutic approach.

Frank Comes to Leeds

Later in 2005, Nick Kemp Training hosted Frank for the first time in the UK. Frank once again stayed with Nick for a further ten-day period.

During this time, Nick also updated Frank’s original Provocative Therapy website. Seeing the need for a more substantial online presence, he created www.provocativetherapy.info as a central resource for Provocative Therapy articles, products, news, and events.

The 2005 Workshop Recordings

The 2005 Provocative Therapy workshop was well received. Frank was delighted that Nick had produced the first Provocative Therapy training manual, which gathered many of the existing articles alongside new material Nick had written from his own observations of using the approach.

The audience included a number of well-known NLP trainers and practitioners. Many of them struggled, as Nick once had, to put their “NLP heads” to one side and treat what they were seeing and hearing as a wholly different approach.

The workshop was recorded in audio format and filmed for what became the Provocative Therapy Live in Leeds three-DVD and two-CD set. The DVDs were produced by Paul Wright with a multi-viewing option. The additional CDs included chapters from Me and God and Nick’s original 2005 interview with Frank.

The “Can-Do Kid”

In 2006, Nick began conducting regular phone calls with Frank. These conversations gave him an even deeper insight into Provocative Therapy. Nick had already decided that Frank would become an annual guest for Tranceforming NLP in the UK, and that the workshops would continue to be recorded and released.

In a very short time, Nick and Frank became close friends. Frank was genuinely surprised by Nick’s work rate and famously nicknamed him “The Can-Do Kid.”

“To me, he’s the Can-Do Kid.”

Frank Farrelly, creator of Provocative Therapy

The nickname reflected Frank’s experience of Nick as someone who would not only agree to an idea, but would actually get it done.

BBC Radio and Accelerated Change Work

In March 2006, Nick was approached to become a regular guest on BBC radio. Over the next 26 consecutive weeks, he worked live on the programme with a range of phobias, using a combination of Provocative Therapy, NLP, and hypnosis.

The addition of Provocative Therapy allowed Nick to work in a far more accelerated manner. Many of these sessions can be found at nlpmp3.com, alongside the original and updated 2006 interview he conducted with Frank.

The Spirit of the Work

Nick has often commented on the importance of not reducing Frank’s work to something merely comedic or aggressive. That would be against the spirit of Provocative Therapy.

Provocative work may include humour, challenge, exaggeration, and directness, but these elements only make sense when held within responsiveness, care, timing, and genuine connection with the client.

Frank’s Archive

When Frank passed away, he instructed his son, Tim, to leave his archive in Nick’s possession.

This archive remains an important part of the history of Provocative Therapy and its influence on the later development of Provocative Change Works. It preserves material that helps students, practitioners, and trainers better understand the roots, evolution, and spirit of the work.