The home of SNT (Subconscious Narrative Therapy)
Founded by Alistair Horscroft
A new approach to change
Interpretation and analysis have led the field of therapy for 130 years, since Freud and Breuer published Studies on Hysteria in 1895 and Jung went on, almost single-handedly, to define a map of the symbolic. For all that time, the practitioner has decided what the client's experience means. It is time for a new approach.
1895
Freud and Breuer
Studies on Hysteria. Interpretation and analysis begin.
1912
Carl Jung
Symbols of Transformation. The map of the symbolic.
1960s
Aaron Beck
Cognitive therapy. The conscious mind takes the lead.
Today
SNT
The unconscious resolves its own narrative. No interpretation.
About the Institute
An emerging field
The Subconscious Narrative Institute exists to teach, certify and develop Subconscious Narrative Therapy. It trains practitioners in Subconscious Narrative Therapy, known fondly by its practitioners as the Hummingbird Method, publishes the thinking behind the work, and maintains the standard for those licensed to use it.
SNT was developed by Alistair Horscroft across 25 years and more than 10,000 client sessions. Training is live, in small groups, and open to hypnotherapists, psychotherapists, counsellors, psychologists, coaches and NLP practitioners.
Education
Practitioner training in SNT, taught live and online in small groups, with the full video course, manual and classroom kept for good.
Certification
Professional assessment and licensing for practitioners who meet the prior-training criteria, with IICT accreditation.
Research
Alistair's work, including SNT, has been requested as the industry expertise for PhD research at the University of New England (UNE).
Understanding SNT
What Subconscious Narrative Therapy is
SNT is a symbolic method of therapeutic change. The client's subconscious represents the problem as a symbol and unfolds it as a narrative until it reaches its own resolution. The practitioner never analyses it or interprets it, allowing for a profound new way to resolution, integration and completion in even the most complex and difficult of human problems.
The heart of SNT
The single most important mechanism in all of therapy, healing and change work.
It is called the isomorphic mechanism, and it is not taught, let alone understood, by pretty much any training school in the world.
A symbol from the deep mind is not a picture of the problem. It is a map of it, point for point. Change the map under the right conditions and the territory changes.
When the symbol changes, what it stands for changes with it. The person finds out what it meant later, in how they live.
In a world of analysis and interpretation, SNT offers a unique and different approach.
Interpretation and analysis led
Freudian psychoanalysis, Jungian analytical psychology, archetypal psychology, Lacanian analysis, object relations and self psychology, Adlerian therapy, psychodynamic and psychoanalytic psychotherapy, dream analysis in any tradition, hypnoanalysis and regression hypnotherapy, sandplay therapy, analytic art therapy and expressive arts, psychodynamic play therapy, psychodrama, family constellations, transactional analysis, psychosynthesis.
Cognitive and conscious mind led
These work with the conscious mind. They never reach the spontaneous subconscious, where symbolic work happens.
CBT, REBT, schema therapy, DBT, ACT, solution-focused brief therapy, motivational interviewing, logotherapy and existential therapy, most coaching models.
Whether the approach is interpretation and analysis, or cognitive and conscious mind, SNT offers one of the only viable alternatives in the world today.
What practitioners say
Some graduates call it Hummingbird: the fond name for SNT.
Works a charm with analytical people like myself. I just had a client who had done 20 traditional hypno sessions with no success. One [SNT] session got the outcome. The client was blown away!
Katja LaukkanenTherapistI have used this method where all else failed, including serious addiction. The client had failed with traditional hypnotherapy, facilities and psychiatry, but [SNT] worked.
Jennie FenwickNLP Master PractitionerI am in awe of this process and the profound impact this method has on my clients' lives.
Linda BoydHypnotherapistOrigins
Where SNT comes from
Alistair Horscroft modelled out coaching, therapy and change work over the last 20 years and created two unique modalities: one on the subconscious mind and one on predictive processing.
SNT is his work on subconscious processing. His other institute, the Horscroft Institute, is on predictive processing.
Essays
Live training dates
28 & 29 November 2026
Saturday and Sunday · online · 10am to 4pm AEST (Brisbane) · small group with Alistair
See the training- 8 & 9 May 2027Saturday and Sunday · online · 10am to 4pm AEST
- 14 & 15 August 2027Saturday and Sunday · online · 10am to 4pm AEST
Can't make a live date? Education only includes a full recording of a live training.
Train in SNT
SNT practitioner training
Known fondly by its practitioners as the Hummingbird Method. Small groups, followed by professional assessment and, for those who meet the prior-training criteria, certification with IICT accreditation.
Training, dates and certification
Boundaries
One complete SNT process, taught on its own: the explainer, a full demonstration and the steps. An introduction to the work before the two days.
The Boundaries course
Join an increasing number of practitioners and therapists who are using SNT as their modality of choice.
Founder
Alistair Horscroft
Over 10,000 client sessions across 25 years of elite-level therapy and coaching. Trainer for over 20 years and founder of The Mind Academy. First person to have a Discovery Channel series on hypnosis and NLP; a TEDx talk with over 1.4 million views; creator of the Fearless program that has resolved more phobias than anyone else. Has worked with Olympians, world champions, CEOs, celebrities and top performers, and helped thousands through trauma, anxiety and addiction.
He spent most of the last decade out of the spotlight, building methods to replace the noise. This is the one his graduates use most.
