Gestalt Therapy Training in NYC

What is Gestalt Therapy?

Gestalt therapy was first formulated in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s primarily by Frederick Perls, M.D., Ph.D., and Laura Perls, Ph.D. The approach grew out of a dis-satisfaction with the “deadening intellectualism” of traditional psychoanalysis, as well as an appreciation of the existentialists’ focus on experience in the present moment. Although trained in traditional psychoanalysis, “Fritz” thought that the exclusive focus on the past, and the avoidance of the immediacy of living in the present, took people in the direction of “living in their heads” rather than living in the world. Utilizing a framework of the inseparability of the human being from his context (“field theory”), Fritz and Laura, along with several of their students and colleagues, constructed an approach which sought to heighten awareness of living in the present, using inquiry, experimentation, and an interest in how we create our experience both in and out of the therapeutic hour.

Gestalt Therapy Training NYC | Clinical Supervision

Clinical Supervsions | One-on-One Opportunities with Experienced Gestalt Therapists

If you have already integrated Gestalt theory and strategies into your therapy practice, you understand the power and effectiveness of its approach. Instead of a one-sided conversation, you participate in a dialogue with your clients, focusing on how they are living in the present, and on developing a feeling of aliveness and wholeness. But you won’t always know the most effective way to help people move forward. For those times when you don’t have all the answers, the Gestalt Therapy Institute offers (a) comprehensive clinical supervision (program).

At the Gestalt Therapy Institute, we have worked effectively with people throughout the metropolitan New York area since 1986. We are available to work directly with you, whether you work in private practice or in an agency setting. Our goal is to help you develop your skills with respect to Gestalt therapy, to help you understand and hone your own personal style, and to address any areas where you want or need improvement.

Our clinical supervision concentrates on the practice of Gestalt therapy, using your actual casework. We can help you identify ways to move forward with a client when you feel stuck, and can show you how to get out of your own way when working with a client.

Gestalt Therapy Training NYC | Professional Training

Lectures and Instruction | Demonstrations | Supervised Practicum Sessions

As therapists, we spend our hours with people who have an awareness, whether vaguely or acutely, that there is something missing in their lives. We can try to teach them techniques, ways that they can respond to events in their lives, ways they can assuage or minimize those nagging feelings. We can try to analyze their past and understand how the things that happened to them in their childhood are affecting their lives now.  We can develop specific strategies to give them hopes for a brighter future.

And we can add a perspective that turns the above into a different approach—we can focus on the whole of their being, so that the particular challenges they face are simply components of their wholeness. And we can direct their attention to how they are living in the present, so that they can actually create the lives they want. That’s the Gestalt approach.

A Professional Curriculum for the Theory and Practice of Gestalt Therapy

For mental health professionals who want to develop a greater understanding and mastery of the theory and practice underlying Gestalt therapy, the Gestalt Therapy Institute offers professional training. Our curriculum includes readings and lectures on all facets of Gestalt therapy, including its development in the late 1940s and 1950s under the guidance and vision of Dr. Frederick Perls. You will receive direct instruction on Gestalt therapy’s techniques and applications, and will have the opportunity to observe Alan Cohen and Connie Newman utilizing Gestalt therapy in classroom demonstrations. Participants will also engage in supervised practicum sessions, and the faculty will also provide on-going clinical supervision on your own cases, if desired.

Gestalt Therapy Training NYC | Mentorship

Mentorship | Informal Opportunities to Broaden Your Knowledge and Practice

Gestalt therapy focuses on how we live in the present, and the structures/stories we create to interrupt our ability to be fully aware of who we are. It emphasizes our wholeness, rather than applying techniques or “fixes” to keep us from getting in our own way.

As a therapist, you may have some training or familiarity with Gestalt work. You may want to incorporate the principles of Gestalt therapy more fully in your practice, but on a more informal basis. If so, our Gestalt therapy mentorship program may be well-suited for you.

For professional therapists who want to develop a greater understanding of both the theory and the practice of Gestalt therapy, but who don’t want to commit to a formal program of clinical supervision, or participate in a structured professional training program, the Gestalt Therapy Institute offers informal mentorships. Typically, our mentorships involve some level of clinical supervision, where we apply the principles of Gestalt therapy to actual issues you are addressing with your clients. At the same time, though, we will examine the theoretical underpinnings of the Gestalt approach, so that you can apply what you have learned when working with other clients on other matters.

At the Gestalt Therapy Institute, we have worked with clients in the greater New York area since 1986.  Alan Cohen studied with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi for four years before completing his training in Gestalt therapy, and has integrated meditative principles into his work and theoretical understanding. Connie Newman has likewise integrated movement and child development into her work as a Gestalt therapist. This expanded view of Gestalt therapy can enhance your learning, and encourages you to bring other elements into your own expansion and integration of the theory and practice.

Contact us to learn more about our Gestalt therapy training, clinical supervision and mentorship programs.  Please use the form below to email us or call us in our New York City office at 212-679-2424.

Alan Cohen, MSW, LCSW, ACSW, BCD, LP | Connie Newman, MA, LCAT, LMHC, LP, NCC

-Reconnect with the Experience of Aliveness-