Notice
Notice more than the presenting symptom. Look at the history, context, patterns, relationships and other influences that may be relevant.
Martin Rothery · Professional education
Nine Realms Institute
Understanding people more thoroughly. Making better decisions about how we help them change.
Nine Realms Institute is the home of Sanomentology, my principal practitioner training, and the wider framework I've developed from nearly four decades of working with people.
The right technique used for the wrong
understanding is still the wrong intervention.
Beyond the presenting problem
The person comes before the method.
People arrive with problems. Those problems can be serious, painful and disruptive. They still tell us only part of what is happening.
Behind anxiety, pain, addictive behaviour, conflict or a recurring difficulty is an individual with experiences, relationships, beliefs, identity, physiology and a life beyond the consultation room.
What appears to be the same difficulty in two people may have developed through very different circumstances. It may be maintained by different processes and require a different understanding.
This has shaped the work of Nine Realms Institute. We examine the person more widely before deciding which approach, if any, is appropriate.
A wider understanding
can lead to more
precise decisions.
The heart of Nine Realms Institute
Sanomentology. A deeper understanding of human change.
Professional practitioner training
Learn to see more before deciding what to do.
Sanomentology was developed first. Nine Realms Institute grew around it as the wider home for teaching, research and exploration.
It is my structured approach to understanding human change and developing the practitioner's judgement.
The training examines what may be organising or maintaining a problem, how different aspects of human experience influence one another, and how established methods can be selected and sequenced appropriately.
Understanding the person.
Formulating the problem.
Selecting the work.
Explore practitioner training
Formulate
Develop a working understanding of what may be happening, what appears to maintain it and what the person may actually need.
Direct
Make responsible choices about appropriate methods, their sequence, suitability and how the response should be reviewed.
The practitioner pathway
Three levels. A progressively deeper practice.
Sanomentology training develops from foundational practitioner understanding through more complex formulation and into advanced selection and sequencing.
Level One
Practitioner foundations, consciousness, communication and the central principles of Sanomentology.
Learn to observe, formulate and work within the established method with appropriate care and judgement.
£799
Or 5 payments of £170
Level Two
Greater depth in identity, emotion and the processes associated with complex and persistent human difficulties.
Develop your ability to examine different presentations and construct more detailed formulations.
£1,200
Or 6 payments of £220
Level Three
Advanced Sanomentology, deeper identity work and sophisticated practitioner decision-making.
Develop the judgement to select and sequence established methods within complex therapeutic work.
£1,699
Or 10 payments of £175
The full professional pathway
Complete Sanomentology Training
All three levels in one structured programme. The complete route is available alongside individual level enrolment.
Full course descriptions, eligibility, level progression, enrolment periods and payment options are provided on the Institute website. Practitioner training is education and does not by itself replace any professional registration or legal requirements.
A different way of looking
The same symptom can belong to very different lives.
Imagine five people who all describe themselves as anxious.
One may be responding to a past experience. Another may be living with genuine current uncertainty. A third may have learned to anticipate danger in situations that are now safe.
The description sounds similar. What is happening may be quite different.
Sanomentology places importance on understanding those differences before determining what should happen next.
The wider framework
One human experience. Nine perspectives.
The Nine Realms provide different ways of examining the same person. Each perspective asks different questions and draws attention to different features of human experience.
Practitioner
What is the practitioner bringing into the work, and how might that influence the outcome?
Consciousness
What is being experienced, noticed, overlooked or unavailable to awareness?
Identity
How does the person's understanding of themselves shape their experience and possibilities?
Emotional
Which emotional responses and patterns may influence what is happening?
Healing
What may need to change, and what could be maintaining the present problem?
Liberation
What might become possible with greater freedom from limiting patterns or circumstances?
Heroic
How might someone understand and approach challenge, responsibility and personal agency?
Transformational
What requires a fundamental reorganisation rather than a small adjustment?
Potentiality
Which further possibilities might become available through change?
Begin with the ideas
Understand the approach before deciding whether to train.
You can explore the method and my thinking without making a purchase. Read, watch and decide whether the Institute's approach interests you.
Sanomentology: The Architecture of Human Change
Read my introduction to Sanomentology, the thinking behind the approach and the importance of understanding the individual before selecting a technique.
Available free, without an email requirement or purchase.
Download the free Sanomentology book →When the Client Does Not Fit the Technique
A practical class examining the point at which a practitioner's usual model does not adequately explain the person in front of them.
It introduces the importance of looking again, questioning assumptions and developing a clearer formulation.
Watch the free practitioner class →Explore different ways of thinking about change.
The Institute also offers free learning experiences, including Escape the Self-Help Reef and Quantum Reality.
Explore free training →Explore the course materials.
Training previews give prospective students an opportunity to examine the material and teaching approach before making a financial commitment.
Explore training previews →
Beyond Sanomentology
Other areas of learning and exploration.
Sanomentology is the Institute's principal practitioner training. The wider Nine Realms framework also supports more specialised learning and programmes for personal change.
Advanced Realm programmes
Explore deeper work within Liberation, Heroic, Transformational and Potentiality, with programmes addressing different dimensions of human development.
Explore practitioner programmes →Specialist learning
Focused programmes examining particular aspects of change, human experience and practitioner understanding. These offer opportunities to study particular subjects in greater depth.
Explore specialist learning →Personal change
There are also Institute programmes for individuals who want to explore changes in their own lives without following the professional practitioner pathway.
Explore personal change →
Why I created this work
I've spent nearly four decades trying to understand people. I'm still learning.
Sanomentology developed from my practical work with people, long before Nine Realms Institute existed.
Over the years I've seen how easy it is for a practitioner to become attached to a particular method or explanation.
What has continued to interest me is the person in front of us. Their experiences, beliefs, history, circumstances and the reasons their difficulty may exist.
Nine Realms Institute became the wider home for developing and teaching those ideas. Sanomentology remains at the centre of the professional training.
I don't want a theory
that explains everybody.
I want better ways
of understanding
the individual.
Two separate areas of my work
Living and Nine Realms have different purposes.
Living is concerned with your own life, circumstances, concerns, decisions and ambitions.
Nine Realms Institute focuses on structured education, practitioner training and the methods of human change.
You do not need an NRI account or a Sanomentology qualification to use Living. And you do not need Living membership to study at the Institute.
The websites have separate accounts, purchases and private records. Your Living work is not automatically shared with NRI or used to choose training for you.
Nine Realms Institute
The person deserves more than an automatic answer.
If you're a practitioner looking for a deeper understanding of human change, Sanomentology is the place to begin.
Explore the training, read the free book or watch the practitioner class. Take time to understand the approach and decide whether it fits the work you do.