Gestalt therapy focuses on expanding self-awareness to move from fixed, often painful patterns, into greater aliveness and a more fluid and flexible way of relating and moving in the world. Gestalt considers our symptoms as ‘creative adjustments’; ways our systems adapted skillfully and coherently to survive our most challenging circumstances. Rather than attempting to simply ‘correct’ symptoms, we can explore these fixed patterns through deepening awareness, meaningful contact, and the attuned, compassionate presence of the therapist. We may use movement, breath, drawing and gesture alongside thinking and talking. Exploring your process, as it unfolds moment to moment at your pace, is at the core of my practice and approach.

Gestalt therapy originated in Germany in the 1930’s by psychoanalysts, Fritz and Laura Perls. After fleeing Germany for South Africa, the couple eventually landed in New York City, where they wrote the first book on their new therapeutic modality with writer and Gestalt therapist Paul Goodman. Gestalt theory is a rich tapestry that integrates psychology, philosophical thought, body process, spontaneity, experimentation, and a more recent relational turn. Relational Gestalt is a responsive and impactful form of therapy that acknowledges the whole person, the co-created relationship with the therapist and the, in the moment, situation of the therapy itself.

Gestalt therapy works with body process to deepen understanding and explore emergent meanings. At the Gestalt Institute, we receive seminars in embodiment and its applications to psychotherapy from Shan Qi, Michael Clemmens and Ruella Frank, among others.

Somatic Experiencing® (SE) is a body-based, clinical model developed by Dr. Peter Levine. SE aims to resolve the physiological impacts of stress, shock and trauma that can accumulate in the body and in our nervous system responses. SE can assist us in gently moving out of fixed states of the nervous system response, including fight, flight, freeze and fawn, towards more fluid resiliency. SE can be used to support the resolution of PTSD, developmental attachment trauma and shock trauma events. SE is a “multidisciplinary intersection of physiology, psychology, ethology, biology, neuroscience, indigenous healing practices, and medical biophysics and has been clinically applied for more than four decades”.

Read more about SE here https://traumahealing.org/se-101/

Movement for Trauma, developed by Jane Clapp integrates poly-vagal theory, nervous system support and physiology to explore how trauma lives in the body and can be explored and supported by somatic practitioners. The course covers hyper-mobility and anxiety, body armouring, fascial systems and tensegrity, the core system, and breathing mechanics to explore resourcing and support for clients living with the impacts of trauma.