Originally trained as a psychotherapist, Bill became known for his collaborative respectful approach, irreverent humor, storytelling, clear and accessible presentation style and his infectious enthusiasm for whatever he is doing. He teaches seminars, leads trainings, writes books, coaches people and offers websites, podcasts, blogs, web-based courses, teleclasses and audio and video programs. Bill is often invited as a keynote speaker, conference speaker, motivational keynote presenter and business speaker.
Photograph
© Steffanie O'Hanlon
Bill
began his professional career in 1975 as a transpersonal
counselor at the A.R.E. (Edgar Cayce) Clinic in Phoenix,
Arizona. Earlier he ran growth groups and taught seminars
at the Phoenix growth center Sentheon. Deciding he really
ought to know something more about what he was doing, he
studied Neuro-Linguistic Programming (before they even had
a name for it) and ultimately went back to school and
became a marriage and family therapist. During graduate
school he studied with the eccentric and creative
psychiatrist Milton Erickson and became Erickson's gardener
(he was Dr. Erickson's only work/study student). He was so
confused and impressed by Dr. Erickson's work, he felt
compelled to spend the next several years of his career
writing and teaching in an effort to make Erickson's
approach more understandable and accessible. Bill then
moved on to develop his own method, the Solution-Oriented
Approach, a brief approach to change focused on identifying
and using strengths to reach goals and overcome challenges.
It has been applied with individuals, couples, families and
organizations.
Bill has now authored or co-authored 28 books. He is
frequently heard to say, "Stop me before I write again!"
and occasionally awakens in the middle of the night,
exclaiming in frustration, "I'm having another book!" His
books have been translated into 16 different languages. He
has written over 50 articles or book chapters.
He hurls his body through space in a large metal tube two
to three times a month to give talks around the world,
despite the fact he hates to travel and be away from his
guitar, piano, dog The Biscuit (cutest dog in the whole
world!) and favorite foods.
Always looking for a challenge, Bill now brings his ideas
to a wider audience. In 1999, he appeared on Oprah with his
book, Do
One Thing Different: Ten Simple Ways to Change Your
Life. He has
also appeared on The
Today Show,
Canada
AM,
and Body
By Jake. His
work has been featured in O
Oprah's
magazine, Ladies
Home Journal, New Woman, Newsweek, Bottom Line, Self,
Women's Health and
The
Psychotherapy Networker.
Bill has a bunch of professional qualifications, which
matters to some people, so he'll list a few here. He:
- is a Diplomate, Board Member, Fellow and Master Therapist in the American Psychotherapy Association (http://www.americanpsychotherapy.com/)
- is a Lifetime Fellow of the Association for NLP (http://www.anlp.org/)
- is certified by the National Board of Certified Clinical Hypnotherapists (http://www.natboard.com/)
- is a Clinical Member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (http://www.aamft.org/)
- is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
- is a Certified Professional Counselor
- is a Licensed Mental Health Professional
- was awarded the "Outstanding Mental Health Educator of the Year" in 2001 by the New England Educational Institute
- was the top-rated presenter (out of over 200 presenters) at the AAMFT national conference several years in a row
Having been successful at getting his own message out, he is passionate about helping others get their message out. He now coaches and teaches book writing, publishing, public speaking skills and Internet marketing. His latest book is Write is a Verb, published in July 2007 by F&W/Writers Digest Books.
You can contact Bill through
Possibilities/O'Hanlon and O'Hanlon,Inc.
Write Bill an email at PossiBill@aol.com
Bill is also on several social networking sites. Here's his
FaceBook link.
