This 3-part article contains a transcript for each of the two sessions where Penny Tompkins and James Lawley worked with a participant on a Symbolic Modelling training in 2001. The transcripts are annotated to explain some of the modelling involved and the purpose for each question. In part 3 the client describes - both in words and drawings - the changes she experienced during the sessions, and what happened in the following 6 months.

Published in Positive Health in 2002, we explain why metaphor is a natural way to describe illness and health, the importance of recognising patient/client metaphors, and how working within these metaphors can activate an individual's personal healing process.

What do you do as a therapist, teacher, doctor or manager when your client, student, patient or colleague says "It's like I'm hitting my head against a brick wall" or "I'm so wound up I can't see straight" or "Things keep getting on top of me"? This article describes a way for individuals to discover how their metaphors are organized and, if they wish, what needs to happen for them to change so that they have a different perception of the world.

A 10 minute video clip of a Symbolic Modelling session is used to illustrate: the use of the Clean Language of David Grove; working with client-generated metaphor; and facilitating the client to self-model.

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.

Over the past few years I've had the privilege of working with Heston Blumenthal, whose restaurant, The Fat Duck, was named the best restaurant in the world by The Restaurant magazine in 2005. Heston has given me his permission to touch on that part of our work that has used Symbolic Modelling in a generative frame.

Examples of using Clean Language to research and facilitate the experiences of a number of groups dealing with the legacy of the violent conflict in Northern Ireland, including several community groups in Belfast, former members of the British Army, the IRA and Loyalist paramilitaries.

The use of metaphor, images and Symbolic Modelling with survivors of torture is described through a case study. 'Nazim', a Kurd, suffered regular instances of detention and violence at the hands of Turkish authorities and forces before being referred to the Medical Foundation. Working through an interpreter Nazim was helped to come to terms with his experiences that were so painful that he had not told anyone, not even his family, before.

David Grove conducted the following Metaphor Therapy session in 1998 with a 46-year-old female who was undergoing intensive chemotherapy for cancer at the time. The verbatim transcript is a good example of how gentle yet effective David's work can be. Writing and transcription by Rob McGavock.