Mining Your Metaphors
Year Founded: 2005
Model of Therapy: Clean Language, Symbolic Modeling and Metaphor Therapy
Every moment of every day we are flooded with new information, whether its source is external, through our senses, or internally generated by our mind/body. Metaphor therapy contends that we make sense of what could be an overwhelming flow by encoding the information in metaphor: we find an appropriate image or symbol, imbue it with meaning and emotion, and file it away, as integral a part of our neural network as the original stimulus. Then, like an entry in an internal dictionary, it’s available to our mind and body to reference as to how to categorize and best respond to future challenges. Getting a detailed picture of these internalized metaphors gives both the therapist and the client a vivid map of core beliefs and patterns, conflicts and blocks, as well as of the client’s inner strengths and resources. Misconceptions and maladaptive solutions reveal themselves as metaphors, and can be addressed, re-imaged, and resolved at the symbolic level.
Clean Language and Symbolic Modeling are largely language-based therapeutic processes that engage a client experientially with his/her internalized metaphors to foster clarity, enhance resources, and promote lasting change at the mind/body level. Initially developed to work with trauma survivors, Clean Language and Symbolic Modeling are now used with a wide range of clients dealing with most any issue that cause people to seek help, including anxiety, stress, grief, and relationship, career and existential challenges.
In addition to their therapeutic effectiveness, the therapies’ significant attributes are their fostering of trust and connection between client and therapist, their deep respect for the client as the expert, and how they help keep the clinician’s assumptions, biases, and personal ‘stuff’ out of the session. Finally, working with images that emerge and evolve unexpectedly, with a sort of dream logic, is fun and fascinating for both client and therapist, helping to keep both committed to the therapy. As highly flexible tools, they can be used by art, movement, and psychodrama therapists as well.
Courses are eligible for NBCC CEU credit hours.
About the Founder(s)
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Gina Campbell, MEd,CAPF,CCF
Gina Campbell, Director of Mining Your Metaphors, has been offerings trainings in Clean Language and Symbolic Modeling to healing professionals since 2005. In her office in Baltimore, Maryland, by phone and on Skype, she offers private Symbolic Modeling sessions to foster clarity and growth.
Ms. Campbell received her MEd in Counseling from Loyola University in Maryland. Her interest in metaphor led her on a path of study that began with journal therapy, included poetry therapy, and finally led to Clean Language and Symbolic Modeling. She is credentialed as a Certified Applied Poetry Facilitator (CAPF) through the National Federation of Biblio/Poetry Therapy, the field’s credentialing body, of which she is the past president. She is also a Certified Clean Language Facilitator (CCF), with extensive training and experience with Symbolic Modeling, and an accredited NBCC CEU provider.
Contact Mining Your Metaphors
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Upcoming CE Web Conferences
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Navigating Later Life: Therapeutic Skills for Working with Older Adults
by Gabrielle Juliano-Villani, LCSW
on November 15, 2024
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Staying Ahead of the Curve: Keeping Your Mental Health Documentation Compliant
by Gabrielle Juliano-Villani, LCSW
on November 20, 2024
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Empirically Validated Approaches to Treating Suicide
by Dr. Lisa Firestone
on December 6, 2024
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Motivational Interviewing and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy - Combined Treatment Model
by Phil Feldman, PhD, LCSW
on January 16, 2025
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