Nidotherapy is a form of management in development and its supervision and training are likely to change as it expands. The need for, and extent of, supervision will depend on the person concerned in treatment, the nature of the problem, and expected duration of nidotherapy.

Self-nidotherapy

It is perfectly possible for people reading this book to gather enough information to practise nidotherapy by themselves. With many treatments the adage ‘a little learning is a dangerous thing’ is a useful restraint on too much self-treatment, but as nidotherapy is only concerned with altering the environment in a planned and careful way it is very unlikely to lead to any significant adverse effects. I and my colleagues may have been uncritical in our own evaluation of the negative aspects of nidotherapy – this is a deficiency of all ‘product champions’ – but we have not been aware of anybody complaining that they have suffered because of exposure to this practice. In theory it is possible that a major environmental decision such as emigration to a distant country could be a consequence of nidotherapy, and if later regretted, would be difficult to reverse, but as the intention in all nidotherapy is to enable a person to generate a nidopathway in collaboration and to accept ownership of any plan, it would be important for such an important decision as this not to be taken in isolation.

The advantages of self-nidotherapy are that it can be conducted at the pace chosen by the patient, involves no conflict with others in its development, and can be constantly monitored and adjusted. It could be argued that a large number of people practise nidotherapy all the time in their daily lives – choice of occupation is an obvious example – and there are others who could practise it with benefit but who never have the nerve to make the environmental changes that are needed to improve their lives. It is perhaps most useful for those who are fully aware that they are not in tune with their environments and can half-understand what needs to be done about it, and who may find nidotherapy a help. These include many with the Prufrock syndrome discussed in chapter 2; these are not people who share their doubts and inadequacies readily with health professionals and often prefer to go it alone.