Stephen Gilligan

Early Life

Stephen Gilligan was born December 26th, 1954, and is one of the founding members of the Ericksonian Foundation, an organization created to provide education on and application of the work of Milton Erickson. Gilligan studied psychology at Stanford University. He received his doctorate from Stanford and began to study a newly developing method of therapy, Neuro-Linguistic Processing (NLP), in Santa Cruz under John Grinder and Richard Bandler in the mid 1970’s. It was at this time that he was introduced to his mentors, Gregory Bateson and Milton Erickson. It was Erickson’s work that attracted Gilligan, and he eventually devoted his life to enhancing and sharing the methods of Ericksonian Hypnotherapy with the world.

Professional Life

While practicing Ericksonian hypnotherapy, Gilligan began to develop a new method of psychotherapy, known as Self-Relations Psychotherapy, based on his studies of meditation, Buddhism, Aikido, and hypnotherapy. His method strives to integrate the body-mind connection and encourages radical transformation. Sponsorship is at the foundation of the Self-Relation Psychotherapy technique. His own method of self-relations focuses on reviving the spirit or soul of a person through the use of “sponsorship,” which he considers the supporting and uplifting of change. Gilligan integrates all of his eastern and western education and studies into this widely accepted and transforming technique. Gilligan’s unique and excitable approach to therapy and personal transformation has allowed him to conduct countless tours and workshops, as well as see numerous sponsorship events occur throughout the world.

Gilligan, an abuse survivor, has used his own experiences, as well as the knowledge of his mentors, to enhance and expand his method of therapy. Gilligan is also an author, and has published several books relating to his method and Ericksonian Hypnotherapy. He is a practicing psychotherapist and psychologist and is thought to be one of the founding fathers of modern hypnotherapy.