Stephen Gilligan

Stephen Gilligan, Ph.D., is a psychologist who earned his doctorate from Stanford University. A prominent student of Milton Erickson, Stephen has spent the past 35 years expanding on Erickson’s work while also developing Self-Relations Psychotherapy and Generative Psychotherapy. In 2004, he was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Erickson Foundation for his numerous contributions to the field. Known worldwide for his inspirational teaching, Stephen has published extensively. His books include *Therapeutic Trances: The Cooperation Principle in Ericksonian Hypnotherapy*, *The Courage to Love: Principles and Practices of Self-Relations Psychotherapy*, *The Legacy of Erickson*, *Walking in Two Worlds*, and *The Hero’s Journey* (co-authored with Robert Dilts). His latest book, *Generative Trance: The Experience of Creative Flow*, introduces and explores a third-generation approach to hypnotic work.

Stephen Gilligan, Ph.D., is a psychologist based in Encinitas, CA. He was one of the original students of NLP at UC Santa Cruz, where he was mentored by Milton Erickson and Gregory Bateson. After earning his doctorate from Stanford, Stephen became a leading teacher and practitioner of Ericksonian hypnotherapy. His work evolved into the creation of his original approaches, Self-Relations and Generative Self, and later expanded into Generative Coaching in collaboration with Robert Dilts. These approaches have been further refined and integrated into the current Generative Change Work, which includes Generative Coaching, Generative Psychotherapy, Generative Trance, Hero’s Journey, and Systemic Change work.

Over the past 30 years, Stephen has taught in many cultures and countries around the world. His extensive publications include *The Hero’s Journey: A Voyage of Self Discovery* (co-authored with Robert Dilts), the classic *Therapeutic Trances*, *The Courage to Love*, *The Legacy of Erickson*, *Walking in Two Worlds* (co-authored with D. Simon), and *Generative Trance: The Experience of Creative Flow*. His forthcoming book, *Generative Coaching*, is also co-authored with Robert Dilts.