Abstract: Despite the wide use of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), within coaching psychology very little literature of a critical nature examines what NLP is, how it works and whether it works. This paper seeks to address that void by asking 15 subject matter experts what their definition of NLP is. In order to develop a theory of NLP that was not skewed, data from a discussion between 19 NLP informed professionals concerning the authenticity of NLP, (44,000 words), was also used in the coding process to generate a grounded theory of NLP. The emerging theory was recycled back to the 15 subject matter experts and 19 informed professionals a number of times and compared and contrasted with the extant literature before the final theory emerged and became somewhat substantiated as a result of saturation. This paper examines the use of NLP within coaching psychology in the context of such a new theory of NLP and suggests developments in the light of such an examination.