Consultation/Study Groups Starting in Fall 2012: E. Bay & Sacramento

Gestalt Consultation/Study Groups

The Therapist’s Path of Relatedness

We are pleased to announce the formation of two new consult/reading groups: one in the East Bay and one in Sacramento that will be led by core faculty of the Sierra Institute for Contemporary Gestalt Therapy.  Peter Cole, LCSW will lead the Sacramento group and Daisy Reese LCSW will lead the E. Bay group.

These groups are for psychotherapists who aspire to a psychotherapy practice that is relational, psychodynamic and holistic.  

The relational approach to psychotherapy sees the client on a journey of becoming more fully him or herself.  Therapy is viewed as a journey of awakening, empowerment and relatedness.  Through the therapeutic  relationship, the client becomes more connected to her history, her feelings, her imagination, her sense of agency, and her experience of cohesive selfhood.

Our approach is grounded in Relational Gestalt therapy. 

Gestalt therapy has come a long way since its founding in the 1950’s by two psychoanalysts: Drs Frederick and Laura Perls and the writer/philosopher/social critic: Paul Goodman PhD.  Gestalt therapy seeks a socially progressive, integrative  approach to psychotherapy.  In its first wave, Gestalt therapy integrated humanistic influences with psychoanalysis.  Those influences included the work of philosopher Martin Buber whose writings pointed toward an intersubjective, “I-Thou” relationship between therapist and client. Gestalt therapy also integrated the pioneering theoretical contributions of Gestalt psychologists including Kurt Goldstein whose work with brain injured WWI patients led him to a deeply holistic understanding of the human organism.  Other influences were Zen Buddhism and  Existentialism.  

In the 1960’s and ’70’s, Gestalt therapy was influential in the “Human Potential Movement” that flourished in that era of cultural creativity and promise.  In the 1980’s and 90’s Gestalt practitioners did clincial work, developed theory, taught, made major contributions in the field of organizational development and worked in academia.  In this period Gestalt therapy thrived in Europe, Latin America and in major North American cities.  

In the present era, Gestalt therapy remains a vibrant school of psychotherapeutic thought and practice, with flourishing institutes throughout the world.  Relational Gestalt therapy integrates the original Gestalt approach with over 50 years of theoretical and clinical advancement that has developed in our extensive literature.  Relational approaches in the psychoanalytic, child development and group therapy literature inform the Relational Gestalt approach.  Gestalt therapy is a very human tradition of learning, growth, honesty, mentoring and caring.  As with all schools of psychology, there are many different approaches that comprise our tradition.  One value that unites the major approaches within Gestalt therapy is the emphasis we place on relationships: relationships between therapist and client,  between teacher and student, and between mentor and mentee.  Valuing these relationships in a spirit of “I-Thou” dialogue is central to Gestalt therapy’s ethos.

At SICGT, our emphasis is on the relationship as it unfolds between therapist and client.   

Relatedness is at the core of our approach. “Relatedness” refers to the individual’s capacity for living within an interconnected web of being.  Each person has tendencies toward being related to others and countervailing  tendencies toward processing our life experiences alone and in isolation. Relatedness carries with it many difficulties and many rewards. The difficulties lie in the fact that it can be painful and unsettling to live with the vulnerabilities inherent to a life of connection to others: others who may well be hurtful to us at times.   The rewards of relatedness lie in the promise of a life that values healing, love and consciousness.  In a life of relatedness, life experience – even painful or traumatic experience can be processed and worked through in the company of a caring other (such as a therapist) — allowing the person fuller access to her inner and interpersonal resources.

Our approach to clinical consultation
 
It is our experience that strong, resilient relationships formed in the consultation group help ground the therapist’s work.  The consult group is a place for the therapist to explore his/her experience of being with the client.  It is a journey that parallels the therapeutic journey.  The therapist who provides holding and grounding for the client, receives holding and grounding in the group.  The therapist who listens deeply, who confronts and comforts her clients in her consultation room,  has the experience of receiving these gifts in the consult group.  The consult group is a place of deep exploration, learning and challenge.  It is a place where members are dedicated to working through difficulty and of repairing wounds that occur both outside the group and inside the group.

The Facilitators

Daisy Reese and Peter Cole have many years of experience with facilitating consultation and growth groups for therapists.  They have received extensive training in the arenas of Gestalt therapy and group therapy.  In the Gestalt field they have trained with Erv & Miriam Polster, Joseph Zinker, Cyndy Sheldon and many others.  Please see Daisy and Peter’s cv’s for a more complete list.  In the arena of Group therapy Peter & Daisy are both graduates of the Washington (DC) School of psychiatry’s group therapy training program and are both Certified Group Therapists with the American Group Psychotherapy Association.  Peter and Daisy are on the core faculty of the Psychotherapy Institute (of Berkeley) Group Therapy Training Program where they co-lead the weekly process/learning group for post-graduate trainees.  Daisy is the immediate past president of the Northern Ca Group Psychotherapy Society.  Peter serves as an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry with the UC Davis School of Medicine where has taught for over 20 years.  

Details

Peter will lead the Sacramento consult group and Daisy will lead the Berkeley group.  Groups will begin in the fall of 2012.  The Sacramento group will meet at Peter’ office in Mid-town Sacramento.  The Berkeley group will meet at Daisy’s office at College Ave & Claremont in N. Oakland.  The cost is $125 per month. Groups meet twice a month for two hours in the early evening.  These are intended to be long term consultation/reading groups, so we ask participants to commit for a minimum of four months.  Additionally, we ask that participants give group members four weeks notice prior to leaving the group as consult group members invest in each other’s process and development.

How We Approach Learning

Each month we will read an article that will inform the clinical consultation.  Articles are carefully chosen to provide a thorough grounding in Gestalt therapy theory and practice.  We will be reading from the work of prominent Gestalt theorists including:

Erv Polster
Lynne Jacobs
Gordon Wheeler
Joseph Zinker
Frank Staemmler
Gary Yontef
Peter Phlllippson