In this unique workshop with Stephen Gilligan, you will journey back to the core activity which built the field we all work in and share in together. Stephen began his journey into the field of hypnosis and NLP as a 19-year old undergraduate student at the University of California Santa Cruz, where he was a prominent member of the Grinder/Bandler experimental groups.

In the heady days/daze of 1974, Grinder and Bandler took a small group to Phoenix, Arizona to model the legendary psychiatrist Milton H Erickson. The work, over different visits during the following 9 months, consisted of Deep Trance Identification with Erickson when he was undertaking client work. The group then, ‘acting as if’ they were Milton practised and tested the Ericksonian patterning to establish the patterns that were a constituent of the model.

Consider the extraordinary level of change the Erickson modelling has brought to the world and to the modeller’s world, it’s immeasurable, and truly generative.

At ‘Generative Modelling’, we will rebuild the model of modelling as described above for our 2026 group. You will observe Stephen conducting demos with new clients, and then be guided through a DTI process so in deep trance you will model Stephen’s work - with course colleagues acting as clients.

After these exercises, participants will be in groups build the model by sequencing the process of the DTI.

A key part of the course, in addition to the DTI modelling, is understanding the multiple models we hold in our everyday lives, relative to different and sometimes conflicting life areas. This includes the models clients form in their maps for being stuck and their representations for the changes they are seeking to build new generative models in life.

As well as modelling the genius of Stephen Gilligan working in client situations for modelling change, the self-application of the course content is an enormous takeaway. You will open your own filters at different logical levels and perceptual positions, to experience your own internal models and how they routinely play out in your life, so you can generatively self-model change into your life and be a beacon of excellence for congruency in the communities you are leading or are a part of.