Nurture · Play · Structure
A Therapeutic Model
Nurture • Play • Structure Books
After years of clients asking, "When are you going to write the book?" it is finally here! Learn more about NPS through the publications below:
Nurture Play Structure: Finding the Balance to Be Yourself
We all want the freedom to be ourselves, yet we are most afraid of being ourselves.
So much of what weighs on us — anxiety, a relationship that keeps catching on the same snag,
the hollow feeling of reaching a goal and feeling nothing — comes down to a life quietly out of balance.
Nurture · Play · Structure introduces the NPS Model, a clear and compassionate framework that
emerged from years of real counseling work. At its heart are three elements that form the architecture
of a balanced life:
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Nurture — the safety to be your authentic self
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Play — the joy and aliveness that safety makes possible
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Structure — how that inner life takes shape in the world
When these fall out of proportion, we adapt, hide, and perform — building what the model calls the
Cage. This book offers a way back: how to recognize imbalance, set boundaries as self-care, make
decisions rooted in what you actually need, and communicate with honesty instead of blame.
Grounded in research yet written with warmth, it is a guide for anyone who longs to step off the Stage and simply be themselves.
Nurture Play Structure: The NPS Therapy Workbook
Nurture · Play · Structure: The NPS Therapy Workbook turns one of the most
quietly powerful ideas in modern therapy into a practice you can actually do.
Built on the Nurture Play Structure (NPS) Model developed by therapist Phillip Bass,
this guided workbook helps you understand why your life can feel out of balance —
and gives you the tools to gently set it right.
At the heart of the model are three simple elements. Nurture is the safety to be your
authentic self. Play is the joy and aliveness that safety makes possible. Structure is
how that inner life becomes visible in how you communicate, behave, and shape your
days. When these three fall out of order, we suffer in ways we often can't name — anxiety,
a relationship that keeps fraying in the same place, the strange hollowness of reaching
a goal and feeling nothing. When they're in balance, we experience safety, joy,
and genuine self-expression.
This workbook walks you through the model one step at a time, pairing clear
explanations drawn from the NPS book with more than thirty hands-on worksheets and exercises.
Inside you'll find tools to help you:
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Map where you feel free to be yourself — and where you feel caged
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Make decisions that start with what you need and want, not just the "shoulds"
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Understand your natural "lean" with the NPS Body Type self-assessment
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Set boundaries as acts of self-care rather than conflict
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Communicate from honesty and Radical Acceptance instead of blame
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Strengthen intimacy, repair, and trust in your closest relationships
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Reflect and rebalance, season after season
Organized into four guided sections — NPS Basics, Decision Making, Boundaries, and Relationships — the workbook includes context pages, journaling space, and reflection prompts so the ideas become a lived practice rather than just a perspective.
Whether you're navigating relationships, recovering your sense of self, or simply longing to live more honestly, this is a space to do the work — at your own pace, in your own words.
Grounded in attachment theory and built on the conviction that you were born whole and good.
The Nurture · Play · Structure: A 90-Day Reflection Journal
Ninety days. One honest question at a time. The Nurture · Play · Structure: A 90-Day Reflection Journal turns a proven therapeutic model into a daily practice of coming home to yourself. The NPS model rests on a simple, powerful image — a three-legged stool. Nurture is the safety to be your authentic self. Play is the joy that safety makes possible. Structure is how your inner life takes shape in the world. When the three fall out of balance, we often struggle in ways we often can't explain. This journal helps you reflect — and gently rebalance.
Each day opens with a short reflection prompt and room to write by hand. There's no right answer and no minimum length. A single honest sentence is enough.
Over ninety days, the prompts move through the whole model and return to the same questions from new angles, so growth happens not in a single breakthrough but in the quiet practice of returning. Along the way you'll explore the needs beneath your emotions, the difference between obligation and choice, the voice of your inner critic, your personal sources of joy, and what it means to set boundaries without building walls.
Inside this 90-day journal:
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A daily reflection prompt with generous space to write
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Guided exploration of all eleven movements of the NPS model
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The NPS Diary — a simple way to see where your hours actually go
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Room to track your balance and notice your patterns over time
This is not a journal about fixing yourself. It's a practice of returning — again and again — to who you already are. Because balance was never a destination. It's something you come back to.
A companion to the book Nurture · Play · Structure: Finding the Balance to Be Yourself.