Relational Gestalt Practice Key Concepts

This text is a review of key concepts for Relational Gestalt Practice.

Gestalt therapy offers a present-focused, relational approach, central to which is the fundamental belief that the client knows the best way of adjusting to their situation. By working to heighten awareness through dialogue and creative experimentation, gestalt therapists create the conditions for a client's personal journey to health. Gestalt Therapy: 100 Key Points and Techniques provides a concise guide to this flexible and far-reaching approach. Topics discussed include: the theoretical assumptions underpinning gestalt therapy gestalt assessment and process diagnosis field theory, phenomenology and dialogue ethics and values evaluation and research. As such this book will be essential reading for gestalt trainees, as well as all counsellors and psychotherapists wanting to learn more about the gestalt approach.

In the field of Organisational Development and Change, fixed methodologies no longer adequately address the uncertainty and uniqueness of today's more complex change situations and more adaptive approaches to change are needed.Gestalt is a relational, dialogic and emergent approach which means that it views individuals and organisations as embedded in their context, dependent on, and emerging from within a web of relationships and interactions. As such, Gestalt offers a transformative, integral and bespoke methodology for working with this complexity. This approach supports practitioners to attend to their presence, seek out the most pressing issues and mobilise for sustainable change. Gestalt has at its heart the notion of use-of-self as instrument which allows practitioners to be responsive to emergent issues and situations.Relational Organisational Gestalt is at the leading-edge of Gestalt theory and application in organisational settings. It explores key skills and methods of a relational Gestalt organisational practitioner such as inquiry into here-and-now embodied experience, identification and engagement in dialogue and finally, embedding and sustaining change in the field. Developing personal awareness, presence and use-of-self is a fundamental part of facilitating change. Each chapter therefore offers guidance regards application and suggests experiential exercises.Gestalt has long been at the forefront of psychological approaches applied to Organisational Development and change in organisations. This book offers a radically relational approach that is accessible to coaches, consultants, facilitators, managers and other OD practitioners.

This fascinating book examines the place and practice of Relational Gestalt therapy (RGT) within an Indian cultural context, and how it can be applied in a group setting. The book begins by introducing the foundational concepts of Gestalt therapy (GT), namely phenomenology, field theory and dialogic existentialism. Through stories and vignettes, it then invites the reader to enter the circle of the group, a profound way of learning akin to the old Indian folk tradition of village communities sharing stories and bonding as a social group. Drawing from these narratives, the book not only elaborates on the theoretical concepts of GT, but also offers culturally sensitive guidance for Indian practitioners wishing to conduct group therapy. Written by a practitioner with over 20 years’ experience, this book will prove essential reading not only for practitioners working in India, but also for anyone with an interest in how GT can be applied in group settings in different cultural contexts.

An international selection of authors provide a detailed exploration of Gestalt as a somatic and relational practice. Covering many aspects of this relationship, the chapters include discussion of our relationships with nature, the role of Eros, energy in Taoism, affect and methods of practice. Both theoretical and practical application of an embodied relational approach to GT are presented, and many chapters include case studies from the contributors’ own work. The overall view of the book is that our bodies are inextricably embedded and co-creating with the environment, and that we know our body and the world through our embodiment.

First published 1951. A series of experiments in self-therapy designed to develop an awareness of self and a growth of the personality

This essential new book gives the reader an introduction to the fundamental concepts of gestalt therapy in a stimulating and accessible style. It supports the study and practice of gestalt therapy for clinicians of all backgrounds, reflecting a practice-based pedagogy that emphasises experiential learning. The content in this book builds on the curriculum taught at the Norwegian Gestalt Institute University College (NGI). The material is divided into four main sections. In the first section, the theoretical basis for gestalt therapy is presented with references to gestalt psychology, field theory, phenomenology, and existential philosophy. In the later parts, central theoretical terms and practical models are discussed, such as the paradoxical theory of change, creative adjustment, self, contact, contact forms, awareness, polarities, and process models. Clinical examples illustrate the therapy form’s emphasis on the relational meeting between therapist and client. Detailed description of gestalt therapy theory from the time of the gestalt psychologists to today, with abundant examples from clinical practice, distinguishes this book from other texts. It will be of great value to therapists, coaches, and students of gestalt therapy.

Gestalt Therapy: History, Theory, and Practice is an introductory text, written by major Gestalt theorists, that will engage those new to Gestalt therapy. Editors Ansel Woldt and Sarah M. Toman introduce the historical underpinnings and fundamental concepts of Gestalt therapy and illustrate applications of those concepts to therapeutic practice. The book is unique in that it is the first Gestalt text specifically designed for the academic and training institute settings. Gestalt Therapy takes both a conceptual and a practical approach to examining classic and cutting-edge constructs.