DIPLOMA IN GESTALT THERAPY

Year 1 - Gestalt Foundations	Entry Requirements
Year 2 - Gestalt Counselling	What is Gestalt Therapy
Year 3 - Gestalt Therapy

The Diploma is a three year part time course that aims to provide:
An in depth experiential grounding in the tenets of Gestalt Therapy theory
A rigorous and individualised skill development programme
A supportive framework in which to debate and experience the ethical values, principles and methodology underpinning Gestalt clinical practice.
Each training year comprises ten weekends and one five day residential. The weekends are residential and run from Saturday 10.00am to Sunday 4.30pm.

Year 1 - Gestalt Foundations

The first year lays the foundation for the integration of Gestalt principles at personal and professional levels. The focus is on developing the trainee's capacities of awareness, discrimination and conscious relating. Personal therapy, both in and outside the training context, group experiential practice, bodywork, dreamwork,ritual, artwork and movement are all introduced within the Gestalt Model as the means to enhance and develop the personal qualities in the trainee. As the year proceeds, time for theoretical reflection and basic skills practice in the Gestalt approach are progressively introduced. Additionally, trainees have the opportunity to observe and experience different trainer styles in working with individuals/groups. Assignments focus on keeping a personal journal and presenting from this as well as a creative writing project.

Year 2 - Gestalt Counselling

The focus for this year is on supporting each trainee to develop the skills to enable them to apply Gestalt principles and methodology in the clinical context. Learning opportunities will include:

considering how to use Gestalt methods of clinical assessment
skills practice in small groups with peer and tutor feedback
participation in a comprehensive range of seminars and theoretical discussions with map out the contours and landmarks of the Gestalt approach and the place of this approach within the wider therapeutic field.
Experiential exercises related to the key topics of each weekend.

Year 3 - Gestalt Therapy

During the course of this year, most trainees will have started seeing some clients under supervision. The focus of the year thus takes on a more "hands on" quality with structures offered to support trainees' emerging competences and to respond to the practical urgencies of the various counselling contexts in which they are working. Within the seminar programme, which continues to deepen trainees' understanding of the core principles of Gestalt, there are also inputs on psychopathology and diagnosis, working with trauma and with sexual abuse, and developmental theory.

Additionally, a full professional practice curriculum is offered which focuses on adapting the Gestalt approach to both sort and long term work, as well as to work with the specific issues that counsellors are likely to be presented with, especially in an agency or Primary care context - bereavement, depression, eating disorders, self harm, addictive behaviours etc. Professional self maintenance is also attended to with an emphasis on professional ethics, the use of supervision, case study writing and self care techniques.

Post Year 3

A series of seminars is offered to support trainees to complete the Diploma requirements. Trainees who may be exempt form attending these will need to demonstrate their ongoing professional development. On satisfactory completion of Year 3 and all the written and practice requirements trainees are awarded the Diploma in Gestalt Therapy, which is equivalent to and Advanced Diploma in COunselling or a Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling.
Graduates of the course are eligible for accreditation with either BACP or UKAHPP.
In some cases trainees may wish to or be required to re-take a year before proceeding to the next one. Details of course requirements for each level and assessment procedures are available from the training team, and will be sent on receipt of applications.

Who is eligible to apply for training?
Experienced/qualified counsellors/therapists trained in another approach

people seeking a career change
Those who wish to integrate Gestalt principles/approach to their current work.

Entry Requirements:

Minimum age for entrance is 23 at the start of the training
Applicants should have completed the Centre's Gestalt Basics or equivalent
Entry is by application form and interview
Trainees are required to be in personal counselling/therapy during the entire course of their training on a not less than once fortnightly basis
Applicants may apply by APL to join the course in year 2 or 3

For information on financial assistance - please read the information on our "Fees" page

If you are interested and wish to discuss any element of the training please contact one of the course tutors for a preliminary discussion.

GESTALT THERAPY

Gestalt is a German word meaning 'form', 'pattern' or 'configuration'. It refers to the fact that people look for and create, meaning ( and patterns and structures) in their lives, their work and their relationships.

Gestalt Therapy was pioneered in the U.S.A. in the 1950's and 60's by Fritz and Laura Perls, Paul Goodman and others, and is one of the leading Humanistic approaches to counselling, personal growth and therapy. In contrast to psychoanalysis and 'talk' therapies, Gestalt emphasises the importance of 'awareness of the here and now`, the significance of the body, of movement, of gesture, of feelings and insights.

Gestalt therapists generally encourage their clients to stay focused on present experience - thoughts, feeling, sensations, intuitions - rather than 'going off` into thinking about their past or the supposed origins of the particular issue that concerns them. At the same time Gestalt therapists accept that many current problems or difficulties reflect that the person is carrying with them `unfinished business' from the past. However Gestaltists encourage their clients to 'finish' the business by providing 'action-techniques' and 'experiments' which can enable a release of blocked energy and a real sense of addressing and completing the issue in question.

Gestalt therapy is suitable for most kinds of psychological and emotional difficulties including many long standing 'character disorders' and chronic feelings of unwellness which may have a psychosomatic component ( e.g. stress, M. E., depression, the `irritable` disorders and various forms of addiction). Gestalt therapists work in private practice, complementary health and National Health settings.