Renewing Gateway Outreach: A Trainer’s Story

Winter 2000
by Lee Stone

Lee Stone is an artist, musician, and therapist in Hillsborough, North Carolina, specializing in Timeline Therapy®, deep memory retrieval, and trauma integration. He has been a Gateway Outreach Trainer since 1988. You can contact Lee through The Monroe Institute or through his Website

The telephone call was unexpected. Residential and Gateway Outreach Trainer Franceen King was inquiring whether, after all these years, my Excursion workshops were still within Monroe Institute guidelines. TMI was restructuring and redesigning the Excursion weekend and a Gateway Outreach Coordinator had been hired. My nine years as a GO Trainer had included moments of feeling frustrated and isolated from TMI. Franceen’s information brought renewed hope.

Twelve trainers from the original Outreach program were still active. Although we were to be “grandfathered” into the new program, we were strongly encouraged to attend the new Trainer Development and Assessment Program (TDAP) . I had some justifications for resisting that recommendation: the cost and feeling pretty confident after presenting the Excursion workshop for years. Then I realized that TMI was simply growing and changing in unanticipated ways. Would I let go of the past and stretch and grow along with it?

Still grumbling a bit, I called Bob McCulloch, the new Gateway Outreach Coordinator, to register for the June 1999 TDAP . Receiving and reading the participant manual and support material was a humbling experience! I did not know as much as I had thought, and the training program had been greatly improved and expanded. I’d taken the Outreach training in 1988 in order to share the breakthroughs and benefits I’d received from Hemi-Sync. Now, I started to remember being stymied by some participant questions at Hemi-Sync lectures and the one Excursion tape that consistently got a less than optimal response. Also, group bonding could be better. Just maybe, this new TDAP could improve my skills.

June arrived and I made the three-hour drive from North Carolina. A whisper of uncertainty lingered until, coming around that last curve in the road, I saw those red-roofed buildings against the backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains. After dinner and unpacking I, and twelve other participants from as far away as Spain and Argentina, went to David Francis Hall for a welcome by Laurie Monroe , president of the Institute. We met our instructors (Dr. Darlene Miller, Bob McCulloch, Ann Martin, and Joe Gallenberger). They explained the purpose and process of the program, reviewed the schedule for the week, and set up for the next day’s Excursion workshop, featuring us as participants. The instructors communicated their sincere purpose: to support us in successfully completing the training and becoming accredited Outreach trainers. Everyone received a copy of Metamusic Remembrance as a study aid.

The next morning we gathered in The Nancy Penn Center for the workshop. As the introductory lecture began, feelings of anxiety and awkwardness surfaced. How did I–as an experienced trainer–fit in? Could I share without intruding or distracting? A bit flustered and uncertain, I put on the headphones to begin Introduction to Focus 10. As always, the sound of familiar Hemi-Sync tones led me to a wellspring of calm stillness. Fears of “not doing it right” disappeared and left me knowing when to listen and when to speak.

After day one of the sample Excursion workshop, we took time for questions and discussion, walked through the tape exercises for the second day, and reviewed the trainer’s manual. The tape exercises had settled everyone’s energy and had given us common ground for connecting. On the third day, we began to go through the TDAP manual step-by-step. Everyone was expected to have already read it thoroughly. Throughout the program, the trainers did an oral review from the manual, followed by a study period, then a written test.

Sunday morning was devoted to a review and test on Bob Monroe’s life, philosophy, experiences, and books. Except for a couple of long-term-memory lapses, I glided through. As I sat in quiet gratitude for having done well and asked for assistance on the next test, inner guidance advised me that I was unprepared. This brought up childhood fears of failing tests. After a moment’s panic, I exhaled into a calming Focus 12 and an image of Paul Rademacher came to mind, followed by inner conflict over asking a stranger for help. About half an hour later, as I stepped out of the public phone room, there stood Paul waiting for his turn!

Following Skip Atwater’s impeccable presentation on TMI research and technology, Paul and I met in the Fox Den to prep for the upcoming test. We complemented each other so well that we continued to study together and several others sometimes joined us. Since there were no written tests in the original GO program, the wisdom of including them in TDAP was challenged. The tests helped the lazy part of me to focus and strengthened my study discipline, comprehension, and retention of information. Obviously, written tests are the most direct way for TMI to assess a trainer’s knowledge.

We were tested on group management, consciousness exploration, working with individual participants, and also did several oral presentations. For example, each of us introduced an Excursion program tape to a group of his/her peers. A TDAP trainer and a fellow participant graded the presentation and offered constructive feedback. This same procedure was used in a simulation of a “group from hell” scenario and to assess one-on-one role-playing between an Excursion Trainer and a participant with a problem.

The last day of TDAP covered administrative issues–registration, workshop pricing, certificates and coupons, promotion, and product sales. Participants were given an opportunity to generate additional income by becoming Hemi-Sync dealers. Having taken TDAP , I now feel more competent to present lectures and workshops and more secure in my ability to answer questions about the Institute’s history, technology, programs, and products. TDAP goes beyond the original Outreach program to insure that each graduate’s potential to be a successful trainer is realized.

© 2000 by The Monroe Institute