Stephan Cocks

Stephan Cocks was trained in NLP in the early 1980s at the University of Santa Cruz by students of John Grinder and Richard Bandler. This is where NLP was developed and the first NLP trainings in the world were provided.

With degrees in English with an emphasis on Transformational Grammar and Criminal Science Stephan has spent the past 25 years teaching and training in a variety of venues.  Stephan spent the early portion of his career working with inmates at Folsom State Penitentiary.  In that capacity he coached inmates due to be paroled, life skills and methods to successfully re-enter society in a proactive effort to reduce the high rate of recidivism.

Stephan later transitioned into the corporate world where he served in various capacities as a trainer and coach in the hospitality industry.  Stephan was a training coordinator with nationally branded restaurant companies training employees in all aspects of customer service by taking the approach of identifying and enhancing each employee’s natural strength’s and identifying and reframing each employee’s perceived weaknesses.

Stephan’s last corporate position was that of training coordinator for MGM Grand Resort Group.  In this capacity, Stephan facilitated the training of all hotel staff in every department totaling in excess of 35,000 employees.  These trainings consisted of training modules for developing and improving skills in all areas from basic customer contact skills, conflict resolution, creative writing for marketing and public relations, to social and emotional intelligence trainings to move the entire corporate culture to one of accepting and embracing diversity in the employee and guest base. 

From 1983 until early 2004, Stephan offered therapy and coaching on a part time basis using hypnosis and NLP to mainly corporate business professionals. Eventually he wanted to offer his skills and services to a broader community. He founded the Tri State Hypnosis & NLP Center in Riviera Arizona, offering therapy, training and coaching to people from different walks of life in California, Nevada and Arizona.

As Tri State grew in success, Stephan started managing the center full time. In 2006 he decided to expand it further to reach an even wider community. Stephan recognized the need for an experienced international NLP and coaching trainer to compliment his skills and background. Stephan selected Nicole Schneider from The Netherlands to build a team, and they have been inseparable ever since.