Clean Language & Symbolic Modeling In Chicagoland

What is Clean Language and Symbolic Modeling?

An approach, sometimes referred to as Metaphor Therapy, which invites exploration of the complex world of your inner experiences without having to directly confront traumas through re-telling—and re-living—them. By interacting with the metaphors that arise naturally out of the work, you are often able to heal, reprocess, and rebalance through your Clean Language sessions.
  • The focus is on what YOU would like to have happen.
  • Using simple questions, worded in a certain way, we’ll help to direct your attention inward to places you may not have noticed before, often with surprising results.
  • In the process, you build resources as well as a different understanding of your inner world by focusing your attention on the metaphors underpinning your thinking. 
  • It’s structure enables you to discover, explore, develop, expand and move toward your desired outcome, making it an excellent coaching tool as well as therapy tool. 

What is Clean Language and Symbolic Modeling?

An approach, sometimes referred to as Metaphor Therapy, which invites exploration of the complex world of your inner experiences without having to directly confront traumas through re-telling—and re-living—them. By interacting with the metaphors that arise naturally out of the work, you are often able to heal, reprocess, and rebalance through your Clean Language sessions.

  • The focus is on what YOU would like to have happen.
  • Using simple questions, worded in a certain way, we’ll help to direct your attention inward to places you may not have noticed before, often with surprising results.
  • In the process, you build resources as well as a different understanding of your inner world by focusing your attention on the metaphors underpinning your thinking. 
  • Its structure enables you to discover, explore, develop, expand and move toward your desired outcome, making it an excellent coaching tool as well as therapy tool. 

How does it work

This unique process developed by David Grove, helps you learn how to address issues, dilemmas or goals, by generating symbols or metaphors as champions in your inner world, which strengthen your resources, clarify blocks to your growth and facilitate change. This is an open-eyed form of light trancework, allowing symbols or metaphors to describe or play out what you are experiencing inside in a more concrete way, opening the door to discovery, clarity and movement.

An example: When a person has too many responsibilities and feels unable to make a change, they may discover that it's like: carrying massive heavy weights on the shoulders while climbing steep stairs; and wanting stronger legs to carry the load. 

Since the tendency in this predicament might be to want to lighten the load in some way, the desire to have stronger legs instead, offers more understanding of where the struggle lies and hints at new places to focus such as:

• When YOU want stronger legs, what would those legs like to have happen? 
• And when carrying all those weights, what would the shoulders like to have happen?  

As these metaphors arise, the wisdom deep within you arises as well, pointing the way to hidden blocks, resources, and strengths. You get to observe, learn, and discover the hidden opportunities for change in the system in a far more substantial way.    

Who would benefit:

Anyone who is feeling stuck, dissatisfied or simply wanting more, when it comes to: 
  • Career, goals, aspirations
  • Relationships, feelings, issues 
  • Habits and repeating patterns
  • Creative expression
  • Spiritual direction, purpose
Clean Language and Symbolic Modeling helps you to notice how your “system” works to keep the same old patterns going—despite wanting something different. It offers opportunities to really choose a different path. This process has a wide range of applications, in coaching as well in therapy.

Learn a new skill set

For therapists and coaches, this is a powerful skill to add to your coaching or therapeutic tool box—both personally and professionally. Whether dropping in a few clean questions or incorporating a full session, this process is a wonderful adjunct to your practice, offering ways to resource your clients, as well as facilitate understanding and change. Clean Language and Symbolic Modeling lends itself well to use in Telehealth.

Click here to learn more about classes.

Full sessions

In a 60-minute format, you’ll be invited to come with an idea of what you would like to have happen in the session. We’ll take it from there together.

Try a series of Shorties

Give yourself the gift of a mini retreat. This process allows you to work with a desired outcome for a specific issue or endeavor over a series of hours, days or weeks. Starting with where you are now and where you would like to be, each session focuses your attention to gain clarity or facilitate change on the next “piece in your puzzle.” You then spend time investigating what you now know about your world/landscape. You determine when to come back to continue your exploration.  Shorties are mini sessions of 20-30 minutes duration, purchased in a package of three. 

(note: to get the most from this process, you will want to have had a few full sessions or a Clean Language Basics class)