David Grove (1950–2008)
David Grove was a New Zealand-born counselling psychologist who radically transformed the landscape of therapeutic communication. He is best known as the creator of Clean Language, Clean Space, and Emergent Knowledge—methodologies designed to honour the client's own internal metaphors without therapist interference.
"Make words physical." — David Grove
The Philosophy of "Clean"
Grove's primary insight was that the language typically used by therapists—full of suggestions, interpretations, and leading questions—often contaminated the client's internal experience. To solve this, he developed Clean Language, a set of simple, open-ended questions that use the client's exact words to explore their metaphors.
Towards the end of his life, his work evolved into Emergent Knowledge. He moved away from semantic exploration and into the realm of spatial and iterative processing. His goal was to remove the therapist almost entirely from the process, allowing the client's own cognitive system to restructure itself through simple, repeated algorithms.
Key Methodologies
1. Clean Language
A technique for working with "the hidden wisdom of the metaphor." By asking questions like "And what kind of [word] is that [word]?", Grove allowed clients to witness their own internal symbols as they truly were, leading to spontaneous resolution of trauma.
2. Clean Space
Grove realised that information isn't just held in the mind; it's held in the space around us. In Clean Space, clients are invited to move to different physical locations to gain new perspectives on their issue. This "spatial sorting" often reveals insights that remain hidden in conventional sitting-down therapy.
3. Emergent Knowledge (EK)
The final iteration of his work. EK uses the power of Iteration—repeatedly asking a set of questions—to "heat up" the client's neurology. This pressure causes the old, limiting worldview (the Problem Space) to break down, allowing a more resourceful understanding to emerge.
Legacy
David Grove's work continues to influence thousands of coaches, therapists, and business leaders worldwide. His methodologies are valued for their profound respect for the individual's autonomy and their ability to produce lasting change without re-traumatisation.
At Ekology, we carry forward this legacy by providing the digital tools that make David's "self-facilitated" vision a reality for everyone.
"You cannot solve an Egg Problem inside the Egg. You must find the 'Hen' — the cosmology that existed before the problem began."
Explore the EK Methodology →