Discover balance and find the freedom to be yourself.

Nurture · Play · Structure (NPS) helps individuals, couples, and families find balance, so you can understand what you need, name it, and meet it.

Discover your Body Type

“We all want the freedom to be ourselves,
yet we are most afraid of being ourselves.”

Phillip Bass

Where to start

FIND YOUR BALANCE

Body Type Assessment

A short set of questions that shows which way you lean: Play, Structure, or both.

Take the assessment

PRACTICE EVERY DAY

App, books and worksheets

A daily reflection app, three books, and every NPS worksheet, free.

Explore the tools

FOR CLINICIANS

Learn the model

Free training videos, six-week supervision groups in Chapel Hill or online, and continuing education.

For clinicians

The books

By Phillip Bass. Available on Amazon.

Cover of Nurture · Play · Structure: Finding the Balance to Be Yourself by Phillip Bass

Cover of Nurture · Play · Structure: A Guided Therapy Workbook by Phillip Bass

Cover of Nurture · Play · Structure: A 90-Day Reflection Journal by Phillip Bass

See all three books

Worksheets and exercises

Practical tools for applying the NPS Model, in session or on your own.

Every worksheet is free

All the NPS worksheets and exercises, free to download for personal, educational and clinical use.

Browse the worksheets

Articles on finding balance

Short reads by Phillip Bass on relationships, communication and the NPS Model.

The Loneliest Place: Why We Can't Receive Nurture While Performing

"The loneliest place you can be is sitting next to someone you love, when they are in love with your performance."

Finding Balance on Vacation: Understanding Body Types in the Nurture · Play · Structure Model

Vacation is supposed to be the great equalizer. Everyone rests. Everyone unplugs. Everyone comes home refreshed. In practice, it rarely works that way. Put a Play body type and a Structure body type in the same vacation home, and you'll see two very different experiences of vacation. Some of what you see will look backwards. The person who is normally all about play is suddenly running the itinerary. The person who usually can't stop working is lying in a hammock doing absolu