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Latest News


Sept 2009 - First ever 'Power of Six' book published

The first book related to David Grove's last innovations, Emergent Knowledge, 'THE POWER OF SIX: A Six Part Guide to Self Knowledge' by Philip Harland will be launched at the Clean Conference in London on 12th September, but if you would like an advance copy go to powersofsix.com or lulu.com. This is more than a book about a new technique it is a whole new way of thinking about how human change.


Aug 2009 - BBC Radio 4 investigates 'Metaphor and Healing'

On October 27th at 9:00 pm Dr. Phil Hammond will interview Penny Tompkins and others about 'metaphor and healing'. He is interested in how the work of David Grove and Clean Language can be used in the field of health and well-being. If you can't catch it live, it will be available the next day at: bbc.co.uk/radio4


July 2009 - Clean Conference taking shape

The Clean Conference (central London, 12-13 September) continues to shape up with a line-up that includes presenters from France, Holland, Belgium, Bulgaria, Israel and the USA.  The Conference provides an ideal opportunity to catch up with Clean developments in different parts of the world – new applications of Clean, new translations of the Clean Language questions, and much more. You can find the full programme of presenters at cleanconference.co.uk


Jan 2009 - Developing Group Notes available on Web

Penny Tompkins and James Lawley's added a new category to their site: The Developing Group. The group has run bi-monthly since October 2001. Recently they published many of the background notes about the topic presented on each day. Over 40 are now available and more are being added periodically.


June 2008 - The very first Clean Conference

Clean Change Company logo 'Magnetic Metaphors and Creative Conversations' took place in London, June 21-22 2008. Organised by the Clean Change Company, it was a fantastic success. There will be a 2009 conference on 12-13 September 2009 so put the date in your diary now!


Jan 2008 - Death of David Grove

David Grove

We are sad to announce that David Grove, originator of Clean Language, Clean Space and Emergent Knowledge, died suddenly on January 8, 2008. He was staying at the home of a long-time friend and collaborator in the USA when he appeared to suffer a heart attack. Emergency medical treatment was unsuccessful. David will be sorely missed by all who knew and worked with him. 

Contributions to the high cost of returning David's body to his Maori homeland will be gratefully received by David's family via PayPal at donations [at] davidgrove [dot] org Any surplus funds will go towards creating a permanent memorial to David.

An obituary was published in NZAC Counselling Today. If you have tributes, stories or comments about David that you would like to share, please use the contact form to send them to us, or post them in the David Grove forum at www.cleanforum.com

My candle burns at both ends; It will not last the night;
But, ah, my foes, and, oh, my friends - it gives a lovely light.
Edna Saint Vincent Millay



Nov 2007 - Steven Pinker quotes Lawley & Tompkins by Judy Rees

Did you know that Metaphors in Mind is quoted in Steven Pinker's new book, The Stuff of Thought — Language as a Window Into Human Nature? On p.245 Pinker says:
     "A book on psychotherapy called Metaphors in Mind calls on
      therapists to work with their patients’ metaphors like: 'I have a
      sensitive radar for insults' and 'I’m trapped behind a door'."
Pinker's book is already a New York Times best-seller. Tongue in cheek, James Lawley says "Of course it is only fair he should quote us, seeing as we quoted him first!"



Sep 2007 - Symbolic Modelling goes Academic
by Penny Tompkins

John Martin (Department of Systems, Open University, UK) has recently published an book review/article of Metaphors in Mind (James Lawley and Penny Tompkins) in the Journal of Metaphor and Symbol. As a result, he has become part of the Scientific Committee of the next 'Researching and Applying Metaphor Conference (RaAM7)' to be held in Spain (May 2008).  This Committee is a selection of experts in the field of metaphor research who will review submissions for presenting at the conference.  John was invited to represent aspects of metaphor in clinical settings.



July 2007 - Report on  Supervision Event by Penny Tompkins

James Lawley, Phil Swallow and I recently returned from our annual Supervision/Coaching retreat in France (Jennifer's de Gandt's beautiful center in Normandy). In addition to personally supervising experienced Symbolic Modelling facilitators each working with a client for 3 days (9 client contact hours), we introduced 'triads' — where we coach and supervise over a six-day period those who have at least 10 days training but have limited experience working 1:1.  All facilitators reported a significant increase in their modelling skills, and clients were surprised and pleased with the results in their personal development.

This unique supervising format has always been one of my favourite events.  I love having the face-to-face time with participants, the discussions and debriefing of their case work, the networking and finding the myriad of ways people are using Symbolic Modelling in their lives and work.  There simply isn't time on a formal training to support people's skills in this way, nor to develop the friendships that result


27 May 2007 - Launch of new 'Clean Collection' web site.new site

The all-new web site of the Developing Company was launched today, ten years after our first offering arrived on the Web. Naturally we used the Symbolic Modelling process to come up with an 'organising metaphor' (ably facilitated by web designer, Phil Swallow) of a gallery housing and displaying The Clean Collection.
old website

Once we had the metaphor of a gallery, it made sense to arrange a guided tour for new visitors. This may be the only place in the world where you can get an overview of all the bits that go together to make up Symbolic Modelling and David Grove's work.

gallery plan

It's been a fascinating process modelling the old website and working out what we wanted in the new site and what needed to happen for that to come about.

As you can see here on the right, the original site was one page with some featured events at the top, links to our book and video and other sites down the left-hand side, with the right-hand side entirely occupied with articles. 

To start with, most articles were written by Penny and James.  As others contributed articles so the page got longer and longer until finding a specific article was becoming a chore.  There was no catalogue, only a loose grouping by author name.

It was the desire to catalogue and organise the articles to make them easier to find that triggered the move to a new website design.  Naturally, once we started the process, every aspect of the old site was scrutinised and a place found for it in the new site.  There are fresh articles too in the new site and more will be added as time progresses.

We're hoping the new website will help more people to become acquainted with Clean Language and Symbolic Modelling - and we're genuinely open to feedback via our contact form.

Penny Tompkins and James Lawley
Training
in the USA

in
Clean Language
and
Symbolic Modelling

with
Marian Way

'Less is More'
May 1-2 2010
San Luis Obispo, California
and
May 4-5 2010
Portland, Oregon

'More to Explore'
May 6-8 2010
Portland, Oregon



www.apricotisland.com

view all featured events