For over sixty years, the insights of the founding model of gestalt therapy have been developed, amended, added to, and broadened. Gestalt therapy today is very different from gestalt therapy of the early decades.
Beginning in February, these four workshops will explore gestalt therapy in the light of contemporary understandings of theory and practice.
These workshops will be most useful for intermediate and experienced therapists. Intermediate therapists will have a chance to continue to learn gestalt therapy practice and theory within a specific contemporary perspective. Experienced therapists will have a chance to review their basic understanding of gestalt therapy while broadening their understanding of contemporary gestalt therapy.
These workshops are designed to give participants:
An appreciation for the parallel developments with contemporary gestalt therapy in other modalities, such as relational and intersubjective psychoanalysis, cognitive neuroscience, and infant development.
An understanding of how contemporary developments practically affect our clinical practices. This is the practical clinical application of contemporary gestalt psychotherapy to the concrete concerns of our practices.
Each workshop combines didactic presentation with practical work by the participants in interactive group process.
The workshops meet from 11AM to 5PM on Saturdays in my office, 220 West Fifteenth St, NY, NY. Enrolled is limited to 8 participants. The fee is $150 per workshop. Contact me to find out the workshop schedule.
Ideas will be developed over the course of the four workshops. Each workshop will build on the experiences of earlier workshops, so participants will gain the most by attending all four, although individual workshops are designed to be independent experiences.
This is a series of 1 1/2-hour bi-weekly workshop/seminars reviewing basic gestalt therapy theory and practice, with a focus on the original 1951 model in Gestalt Therapy, by Perls, Hefferline and Goodman. It is designed to provide a foundation for a more meaningful understanding of contemporary gestalt therapy. I conduct this as a seminar/group in New York and as an interactive Skype group.
It is suitable for all levels of experience. Psychotherapists from other modalities will find this a way to get a meaningful introduction to gestalt therapy.
The fee is $50 per meeting.
The Development of Gestalt Therapy
This is a series of 1 1/2-hour bi-weekly workshop/seminars in the developments in gestalt therapy since its founding in 1951. It will follow most of the goals of the 6 hour monthly workshop, but different formats.
We will explore how the practice and theory of gestalt therapy developed to reflect changes in society and discoveries in related fields, yet maintained a stable core of its organizing principles.
The wider horizon of gestalt therapy will also be addressed so we can understand gestalt therapy's relationship to phenomenology, existential psychotherapy, pragmatism, contemporary psychoanalysis, and cognitive neuroscience.
We will rely heavily on the experience of the particpants and clinical material from their practices.
These workshops are also offered in New York and as a Skype group.
These workshops/seminars are suitable for psychotherapists with intermediate or advanced experience.
The fee is $50 per meeting.
This monthly Skype study group studies the foundational text, Gestalt Therapy, Excitement and Growth in the Human Personality, (PHG) by Perls, Hefferline, and Goodman in the "traditional way."
This text was the first formal statement of gestalt therapy. All further development of gestalt therapy's theory and practice is built on its foundation.
Since the time of that book's publication, trainers at the New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy developed a style for teaching this text by a careful line-by-line reading in a group setting. Group members learn gestalt therapy theory as they discuss the ideas that emerged through living dialogue with the text.The group and its members bring their own experiences into the reading of the theory -- and this stimulates lively discussion that brings contemporary richness to everyone's understanding and experience of this fundamental theory of gestalt therapy.In this way, gestalt therapy in action is also experienced. This became "the traditional method" for learning "PHG."
This was the method used by Isadore From and Richard Kitzler at the New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy. It was the method by which I was trained -- and I continue this tradition.
A monthly group meets for 1-1/2 hours on Fridays at dates scheduled for the convenience of group members. Current membership includes gestalt therapists from 3 continents and 5 nations.
I will form additional groups as needed.
This is open to people of all levels of experience.
The fee is $45 per meeting.
This program is co-sponsored by AAGT and NYIGT. AAGT is approved as a provider of continuing education by the American Psychological Association, National Board for Certified Counselors, California Board of Registered Nurses, and California Board of Behavioral Sciences for Marriage, Family and Child Counselors and Licensed Social Workers. AAGT maintains responsibility for this program and its contents.
I offer supervision in individual, couple, and group psychotherapy by in NY or by Skype.