Clean language: David Grove’s model updated – Symbolic modelling 12th June 2014

On Friday 12th June 2014, Penny Tompkins and James Lawley will lead a workshop on symbolic modelling and the application of the ‘clean language’ of David Grove in counselling, psychotherapy, coaching and consulting.  David Grove originally applied Clean language to the resolution of traumatic memories.  The workshop leaders have been instrumental in codifying and further developing the approach for wider use.

The workshop will demonstrate change-work based on an approach which they call Symbolic Modelling. This is a radically different way of facilitating change based on a new view of how people organise their internal world. It does not require a specific change technique!  Changes emerge spontaneously and are matured organically until the client embodies new metaphors to live by. The role of the coach/therapist is to maintain a ‘clean’ intention, to encourage the conditions under which change happens naturally, and to follow every potentially serendipitous shift. According to Ernest Rossi, the long time collaborator of Milton Erickson, the approach “helps people learn how to facilitate their own creativity in solving their own problems in their own way.” It is particularly useful with hard-to-get-to and repetitive problems that are not amenable to standard change techniques.  Person-centred practitioners will readily identify with the approach, although as a technique it can be universally applied.

Background and Training Outcomes

Symbolic Modelling is a truly new way of thinking about the change process. It combines advances in contemporary psychology with developments in the science of self-organising systems. These developments lead to a radical new view of the way in which humans change:

• Metaphor is not some figurative icing on the narrative cake, it is intrinsic to language, thought and deed.
• Knowledge for the most part is not based on abstract concepts and well-defined categories, but embodied through and through in a fuzzy, non-linear logic.
• Humans, individually and collectively, self-organise.  Self-organising systems have no central control. Instead they employ dynamic intelligent networks that are complex, adaptive and emergent.

Few approaches implement this new paradigm as congruently as Symbolic Modelling. This training offers counsellors, psychotherapists, coaches and consultants an opportunity to experience first-hand the power of these new innovations. It will also be of value to individuals who want to gain a deeper appreciation of themselves and to enhance their ability to listen to and facilitate others. Penny Tompkins and James Lawley developed the approach through many years of modelling the work of David Grove,  Symbolic Modelling integrates the Grovian ‘clean’ philosophy, the use of client-generated metaphor, the facilitator as modeller, and systemic outcome orientation into one package. The principal focus of this approach is the client’s relationship with their own ‘metaphor landscape’ — a psychoactive 4-dimensional, imaginative world existing within and around them. This emergent dynamic feedback loop provides an inherent directionality, often guiding the client to places they didn’t know they needed to go, and to outcomes that surprise and delight both them and their facilitator. Participants will be introduced to a highly effective and flexible approach to facilitating people to construct their own desired outcomes and to discover what needs to happen for change to occur naturally. Changes occur spontaneously and are matured organically until the client has embodied new metaphors to live by. What makes this methodology so useful and innovative is its simplicity and its ‘clean’ philosophy. Ernest Rossi, long time collaborator with Milton Erickson, says this approach ‘helps people learn how to facilitate their own creativity in solving their own problems in their own way.’ Participants will see Symbolic Modelling client-work demonstrated and debriefed live, practice using Clean Language, and experience the effect of exploring their own metaphors.

Recommended introductory articles

Coaching:  Coaching with Metaphor
Therapy:   Tangled Spaghetti in My Head
Health:     The Mind, Metaphor and Health
Education: Learning Metaphors
Business:  Metaphors of Organisation
Clean Language live: 24-minute video of a session: The Tree of Wisdom

Further optional preparatory reading:

• Marian Way’s excellent new book available from: www.cleanapproachesforcoaches.com
• Metaphors in Mind: Transformation through Symbolic Modelling by James Lawley and Penny Tompkins.
• A Strange and Strong Sensation – a training video/DVD of a complete Symbolic Modelling client session with on-screen annotation, a full transcript and unique 3-perspective explanatory booklet.
• Any of the 200 articles on www.cleanlanguage.co.uk

Frequently asked questions

Frequently Asked Questions about symbolic modelling and clean language. Frequently Asked Questions about workshops and trainings run by Penny and James.

Penny Tompkins and James Lawley are leading authorities on the use of self-generated metaphor for personal and professional development. They are the developers of Symbolic Modelling using the Clean Language of David Grove. Their book, Metaphors in Mind, is a comprehensive guide to their approach, and is supported by a training DVD, A Strange and Strong Sensation. They have written over a hundred articles which are freely available on their website: www.cleanlanguage.co.uk.  Penny and James are psychotherapists who have been UKCP registered since 1993.  They have been recognised NLPtCA Supervisors since 1995. Both have an extensive business background.  They have coached managers and leaders for many years and have supervised coaches from the Institute of Directors, Ashridge Management College and University of Surrey Business School.  Penny and James have recently been appointed honorary members of the Association Of Coaching Supervisors (AOCS). They are currently supporting several academic research projects and James is co-author of a major academic paper ‘Eliciting Metaphor through Clean Language: an Innovation in Qualitative Research Methodology’ which is due to be published in the prestigious British Journal of Management.

The event

The event, which includes lunch, will be held in the comfortable, relaxed environment of Cheshire Conferences and Events at Edgeley Park Stadium, Stockport.

It will start at 09:30 and finish promptly at 16:00.

The cost is £125 per delegate (£95 for students), which includes lunch.  For reservations made before the end of March, there will be an ‘early bird’ rate of £95 (subject to limited availability).

6 hours CPD – an individually signed certificate of attendance will be provided to all registered delegates.  Those who pay on the door, or who wish to obtain a duplicate may order one from the website.

To download flyer click here.

To attend – email events@mindsite.co.uk , call Jonathan at 0161 439 7773, or press the button below to register with confidence through Eventbrite.  You can pay by PayPal. card or cheque.  Or we can invoice you or your organisation.  To view our cancellation policy click here.