gestalt
holistic contemporary creative embodied relational compassionate
About gestalt
The word 'gestalt' means constellation, pattern or whole. As a gestalt therapist, I am interested in how you constellate your experience, in your patterns and in your wholeness. (I am interested in all this for myself, too).
Contemporary gestalt psychotherapy is known for its:
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emphasis on healing through relationship
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lively and contactful creativity
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compassionate and respectful support for authenticity and uniqueness
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attention to body process
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collaborative meaning-making
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awareness of the intrinsic interdependence of all life
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focus on present-moment awareness similar to mindfulness.
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appreciation of how our history, culture and life situation shape our experience
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awareness of the shared struggle of being human
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respect for difference and diversity
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compatability with findings from neuroscientific research
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ethical practice
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Contemporary gestalt grows out of the radical work of its founders in the 1950's, who synthesised the gestalt approach from their experience of psychoanalysis, dance, transpersonal and spiritual traditions, theatre, psychology and politics.
Theory which influences me
Please click here for a detailed description of relational embodied gestalt theory and practice, which I co-wrote as part of the Edinburgh Gestalt Institute team. Within the gestalt tradition, I align most with the work of Lynne Jacobs, Jim Kepner, Ruella Frank and Gianni Francesetti. I am also influenced by contemporary psychoanalytic thinking, particularly the work of Philip Bromberg.
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Like most psychotherapeutic approaches, gestalt has grown in response to developments and research in working with trauma, attachment and child development. Here, I often draw on the work of Daniel Stern, Dan Siegel, Allan Schore and Janina Fisher. I also weave my interest in poetry, literature and spiritual writings into my work. I am integrative by nature, and gestalt is an integrative approach, within its fundamental framework of dialogue, phenomenology and field theory.
'All real living is meeting' Buber