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Gina has office hours on
Mondays and Tuesdays.
410-560-1170
gina@symbolicmodeling.com
For more information about office or phone sessions, or about training to facilitate using Symbolic Modeling, see www.symbolicmodeling.com
Gina Campbell, facilitator
Gina has a Master’s degree in School Counseling from Loyola College. Inspired by her work with journals and literature as counseling tools, she pursued an additional certification as a poetry therapy practitioner through the National Federation of Biblio/Poetry Therapy. She currently runs several poetry/journal groups for mid-life adults who consider their challenges, met
and unmet, by reflecting upon poems and responding with writings of their own.
Her exploration of Symbolic Modeling began in 2003 with an intensive study course with its originators, Penny Tompkins and James Lawley, at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY. She has since continued her studies at Omega, in England (Tompkins
and Lawly’s home) and in France. Gina works with clients here
in Baltimore, and teaches other facilitators the Symbolic Modeling theory and process as well.
Notice: As a counselor, Gina is trained to work with mentally healthy clients who are working through life challenges that characterize the human condition, such as those listed above. Clients with clinical-level mental illness should seek a licensed psychotherapist. Symbolic Modeling in conjunction with such therapy may be helpful.
At Ruscombe
Gina has office hours on Mondays and Tuesdays. Please call Gina at 410-560-1170, or email gina@symbolicmodeling.com to request an appointment. Sessions are $80 and usually last 1-1 ¼ hours. (Allow an extra ¼ hour for the first session.) Insurance cannot be accommodated.
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What is Symbolic Modeling?
Symbolic Modeling is a language-based mind/body therapy. The process invites you to gain clarity about yourself and to work through issues at a symbolic or metaphoric level. As you explore your metaphors, new discoveries and connections are made, the metaphors begin to evolve, and changes in your everyday thoughts, feelings, and behavior can follow.
Studies of the brain suggest that experiences and emotions may be stored in the right hemisphere of the brain in the form of images and symbols. These may not be readily accessible to the left hemisphere, center of our verbal and problem-solving capabilities. It appears that Symbolic Modeling brings what is stored in the right hemisphere, often subconsciously, into the left hemisphere, into words and consciousness. No longer inaccessible, you can now work with the symbols to address patterns, beliefs, emotions, etc.
Insight into the sources and meanings of these metaphors does not seem to be necessary for a healing impact. The mind appears to know how to help itself if we just connect the parts.
How is Symbolic Modeling done?
Symbolic Modeling which has three basic components:
Metaphors: these metaphors aren’t created the way you might pick one when writing a poem; instead, you experience them as they already exist in your mind, and you are now discovering them. The images that make up your metaphors relate to one another, and it is in these relationships that the patterns of your behavior, feelings and thoughts are mirrored.
Clean Language: The Symbolic Modeling facilitator uses a unique sentence structure, based on your exact words, to ask questions about the images you describe. The facilitator focuses your attention on their details and their relationships with one another. You’ll notice the facilitator’s speech does not sound like ordinary conversation; it is grammatically awkward and very sparse. This encourages you not to engage cognitively or conversationally with the facilitator. S/he is there to guide your exploration of your metaphors, not to interpret their meanings or add observations or determine what you should do with them. This is very much a client-centered process.
Modeling: Together, the facilitator and you are working on developing a full picture of your Metaphor Landscape. Through a series of questions, and possibly over a number of sessions, you will collect details about your metaphors by and through which you have stored your experiences and responses to those experiences.
Think of building a model town for a train garden. It is full of objects which serve a variety of purposes. You might have a train, running on a track, which may split in places. The tracks may go by a bank, a school house, and homes. There may be switch controls which regulate the train’s going and coming. About each of these, there will be added details and purposes.
Similarly, you and your facilitator are creating a model of your internal metaphors to explore. In a surprisingly emotional and visceral way, you’ll discover there are things you want to change with these images, and your facilitator will help guide you through discovering how that can happen. As changes occur with your metaphors, profound shifts are also felt emotionally, as the mind seems to ‘rewire its circuits.’
Who can benefit from a Symbolic Modeling session?
“I can’t believe the difference that one session with you has made for me….I feel so much lighter and more playful…... It was beautiful the way you listened so deeply to what I was saying and repeated exactly what I needed to hear to let me go deeper and work my own way to a resolution, a resolution that I could feel came from within myself, not from you. Empowering!” –S. F.
Symbolic Modeling was originally developed to work with patients suffering from traumas which were too painful or frightening or shameful to confront directly; working with metaphors proved to feel safe and very effective. Since that time, Symbolic Modeling practitioners have widely expanded the client issues they work with.
Just about any issue that would bring one to counseling could potentially benefit from a working with the internal metaphors which encode it for the client. Symbolic Modeling is particularly helpful, but not limited to, working to change old patterns of thought, behavior, or feeling; the client may intellectually be more than ready to change, but just can’t seem to make it happen or to stay with the desired change. Or s/he may feel there is something holding him/her back from fully embracing life, but is unclear about what it is. Other examples of typical issues include: transitions of all kinds, grief over loss, relationship issues, including separation and/or divorce, mild to moderate anxiety and mild to moderate depression, trauma resolution, weight loss, and smoking cessation. And on and on…..
Clients presently in therapy often continue to work with their therapists in more traditional modes, such as for coming up with current behavioral plans, while using Symbolic Modeling to access and work through older, deeper issues.
Therapists and Coaches:
Interested in learning how to do Symbolic Modeling?
Gina is eager to share her understanding of and skills with Symbolic Modeling with others. As its originators live in England, there are few opportunities in the States to learn this technique. If you’re interested in learning more, contact Gina at 410-560-1170 or email gina@symbolicmodeling.com to inquire about upcoming training. 1 ½ hour introductions to multi-day training retreats are offered periodically.
Further information on Symbolic Modeling
Symbolic Modeling was developed by Penny Tompkins and James Lawley, based on the work of psychotherapist David Grove. You can learn more about them and the process at www.cleanlanguage.co.uk. The site lists over 50 articles about Clean Language and gives information about further training opportunities.
Tompkins and Lawley’s book, Metaphors in Mind, is designed for those wishing to learn how to facilitate the Symbolic Modeling process, rather than for clients. It employs several client transcripts to illustrate its step-by-step discussion of the process and its rationale.
For more information about office or phone sessions, or about training to facilitate using Symbolic Modeling, see www.symbolicmodeling.com
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