About Gestalt Psychotherapy

‘Gestalt’ is a German word which means ‘a Whole’ or ‘a completion that is other than the sum of it’s parts’.  Being part of a whole with the mind, emotional and spiritual aspects of the person, Gestalt Psychotherapy is inclusive of body experiences such as breathing, heart rates, physical discomforts, pain etc…  Gestalt Therapy’s objective is to support the client in his/her quest to become more fully and creatively alive, to become free from the blocks and unfinished businesses which diminish excitement, satisfaction, fulfilment and growth.

Gestalt Therapy focuses on process (what is actually happening between past and present) as well as on content (behaviours, and day to day events).  The emphasis is on what is being done, thought, and felt in the here and now, rather than on what was, might have been and should have been in the past (there and then).

As clients develop these new awareness, they also learn to differentiate their personal experience from that of others.  Each person’s uniqueness has its roots in an environment, or field, that stems from a there and then experience.  The therapy aims to help the person make sense of themselves by learning to distinguish the past from the present.  What ensues is a gradual building of new confidence in the here and now.

One of the therapy’s aims is to allow clients to become aware of embodied experiences as they develop a new or different awareness of themselves.  It holds like other psychotherapies qualities of being relational and humanistic.  Clients learn to become aware of how and what they are doing and being, to bring forth their ability to make changes, and to experiment with new ways of doing and being.

Gestalt Therapy is experimental and experiential in its approach.  It relies on the awareness of what constitutes contact and how contact becomes modified within oneself, in relationship, and with the environment.