GTILA
About Us
Our Mission:
GTILA is a gathering space for Gestalt therapists, trainees and the Gestalt curious from the Los Angeles area, the United States and internationally. By offering training scholarships, affordable/accessible educational and experimental salons, workshops, newsletters and a therapist directory, we exist to provide an inclusive home for Gestalt therapists while promoting the advancement of contemporary, relational Gestalt therapy. We embrace and respect differences recognizing that our theory and practice must be responsive to the rapidly changing social and demographic field conditions to remain vital, ethical, and relevant.
GTILA currently operates as an all-volunteer led, non-profit organization committed to embodying the core Gestalt Therapy Principles of phenomenology, dialogue, and a field theoretical understanding of the world and our interrelatedness and to the task of making Gestalt therapy accessible across cultures and multiple intersecting identities.
Our History
The Gestalt Therapy Institute of Los Angeles (GTILA) is a community of gestalt therapists that was established in 1969 by Frederick S. Perls, M.D., James Simkin, Ph.D. and others for the purposes of promoting the development, application, and competent practice of Gestalt Therapy. For over 30 years, GTILA also provided an ongoing “hands on” gestalt therapy training program in Los Angeles for mental health professionals.
GTILA now functions as a membership organization whose mission is to advance and promote the exchange of information and expertise regarding the field of gestalt therapy among its members, with the professional community, and with the community at large.
Our Vision
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To being a professional home for Gestalt therapists to come together in community through trainings, social events, and the exemplification and sharing of Gestalt therapy. We aim to be a welcoming, inclusive, diverse community that embodies and is guided by the Gestalt principles of dialogue, field theory, and phenomenology. We aspire to bring colleagues together to support and encourage each other on our shared passion for excellence as Gestalt therapists. At GTILA, we honor our history, and we continue to evolve through honest and humble reflection, good will, and friendship.
Working Together Toward Change
GTILA is a community dedicated to a continual engagement in dialogue: a practice of experiencing others wholly and authentically, and sharing phenomenological awareness. Through this dialogical practice, the board members of GTILA have come to recognize the privilege of our community, and we are committing to expand the GTILA network to be more inclusive of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color). We are a work in progress and will continue to engage in developing a deeper understanding of our racial biases, in an effort towards change. We are resolute in our dedication to engage in the dialogue with BIPOC community members and educators to aid in our growth. Additionally, we have established BIPOC scholarships for the study of Gestalt therapy, are inviting BIPOC Gestalt therapists in the LA area to become board members, and are implementing opportunities for white members of GTILA to investigate their own understanding of their whiteness, privilege, and racial biases, in an effort to create a more just world. Finally, we would like to invite members of the community to provide suggestions and feedback in support of our efforts towards change.