Stephen Gilligan, PhD, is a psychologist who received his doctorate from Stanford University. He was a major student of Milton Erickson and has been elaborating this work for the past 35 years, while also developing Self-Relations Psychotherapy, and Generative Psychotherapy. In 2004, he received the rarely given Lifetime Achievement Award from the Erickson Foundation in honor of his many contributions. He is well-known throughout the world for his inspirational teaching He has published extensively, including 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 (w/ R. Dilts). His most recent book, Generative Trance: The experience of creative flow, proposes and explores a third generation approach to hypnotic work.