Articles by this Author
Calibrating whether what you are doing is working
How do facilitators calibrate when “it’s working”, and
when it’s not? It is not easy for a
facilitator to describe the in-the-moment criteria by which they
navigate a session. However, even if a facilitator
cannot specify how they decide what to do, they have a duty to consider
the question: How do you know when what you are doing is (or is not) working?
REPROCess: Modelling Attention
The first principle of Symbolic Modelling is: Know what you are modelling, i.e. what kind of experience the client is having. This article shows how the REPROCess model enables a facilitator to do that. Published Acuity, Vol.3, Nov 2011.
Metaphor the body and healing
British therapists James
Lawley and Penny Tompkins, specialists in the Clean Language
approach to client-therapist dialogue, present a fascinating look at ‘Metaphor, the Body, and Healing’.
What did Improv ever do for us?
Based on the work of the grandaddy of modern improvisation, Keith Johnstone, we explore what clean facilitators can learn from the art form of improvisation.
When science and spirituality have a beer - a video

A 45 minute video of a full Symbolic Modelling demonstration on an
Xtrema training in October 2010 in Paris. You can listen in English or
French, or both. The session starts with the conflict between the client's science and spiritual sides and progresses to a spontaneous denouement.
Modelling the Written Word
This paper describe and give examples of the many kinds of written word we have modelled. These include: Single statements/questions; Questionnaires; Letters to staff; Transcripts of 1:1 therapy/coaching; Exemplar Modelling; First-person accounts; Academic research interviews; Processes/Techniques; Shared or Group Reality.
Shifting Frames
What's going on when you don't get the kind of answer you expect from the question you ask? From the questioner’s point of view, the shift of frame is a kind of mismatch summed up by the feeling “Huh?”. According to the dictionary ‘Huh’ is used to express confusion, surprise or disbelief. We would add that for a modeller it likely indicates something interesting has just happened.
Modelling Robert Dilts Modelling

This extensive report describes both the
product of Penny Tompkins and James Lawley's modelling of Robert Dilts, and the
process by which they arrived at their model. It includes 9 video clips, transcripts and a host of source material.
How We Act From What We Know To Be True
How do you act from what you know to be true when you haven’t before, or it’s difficult, or you’re frightened of the consequences, or you’re not the kind of person who does? While each person’s process will be individual there seem be a number a characteristics present in most people’s experience.
Cognitive Dissonance and Creative Tension

What is cognitive dissonance? Is it the incompatible cognitions? The unpleasant feelings? The need to reduce those feelings? The action to resolve the conflict? Or all of that? Are cognitive dissonance and creative tension the same or different? Is one a sub-set of the other? If they are different, how are they different? Do they work in conjunction or against one another? And what effect does that have?