The gestalt therapy process involves staying with your experience in the here-and-now; energizing resistances and working through them; working with polarities (opposing forces within you, e.g., Critic vs. Praiser) to restore contact between the various parts of yourself; restoring contact with your environment; taking ownership of your actions and experiences; and creating awareness of sensations, feelings, needs, wants, and behaviors. Gestalt therapy operates on a systemic premise in which change in one dimension of your life impacts all other dimensions.

As gestalt therapy emphasizes, we live in the moment. With its focus on the present, gestalt therapy enables you to enter the experience itself, knowing that when you understand what is happening inside you your own sense of direction will inform your next step. This facilitates the creation of symbols that extend beyond the limits of therapy into life outside the therapeutic session. In that sense, gestalt therapy serves as a rehearsal for future behavior.

Gestalt therapists are, ideally, creative and embodied individuals who are sensitive to how the here-and-now might include aspects of the past through observation of body posture and other nonverbal and verbal behaviors. Gestalt Therapy is also, itself, very creative in nature, enabling you to fully experience your imaginative dimension and include it in your growth process. The strategies used in gestalt therapy allow you to explore the full range of your experience and expand it, to take responsibility for your behavior, to uncover issues that may not be obvious, to work through defense mechanisms, to close unfinished business, and ultimately, to create awareness, integration, and transformation.

I have completed a number of certified trainings in gestalt therapy with the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland.

For more information about my experience working with gestalt therapy, or to schedule an appointment, please feel free to contact me.