GTILA
Salons
Learn About Gestalt Therapy
Salon Series
GTILA presents a series of salons which provide an opportunity to learn about some aspect of Gestalt Therapy in a relaxed, informal setting. Salons are free for GTILA members on a first come, first serve basis (members must log in, and check the salon discount code page for their member code), and others may attend for a minimal fee. All people interested in Gestalt Therapy are welcome to attend Salons. GTILA does not discriminate in its education or membership activities based on race, national or ethnic origin, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic or non dominant cultural identity.
Beginning in 2022, most past salons will be recorded and available to members as a part of their membership benefits. To access past salon recordings, log in to your GTILA account and visit the Salon Recordings page.
And, please be sure to also checkout our Workshops page for upcoming workshops.
Upcoming Salons
We are thrilled to invite you to join us on this rare opportunity! Lynne Jacobs, Gary Yontef and Rich Hycner are worldwide recognized for advocating the importance of emphasizing relationality and dialogue as part of Gestalt Therapy’s principles.
In this salon, you will learn about their personal and professional paths, alone and with each other, toward what became known as Relational Gestalt Therapy (RGT). They will explore the nuances of RGT, how Martin Buber’s concepts impacted their work, their challenges and successes met along the way, and particular experiences that they feel emergent to share with us during this rare meeting together.
It will be a moment to explore history through the voices of some of the most respected luminaries who dedicated their efforts to developing and amplifying the Relational Gestalt Therapy approach in the last several decades.
10:00AM-12:00PM PT
Zoom
7
June
As an artist and a Gestalt therapist, Guy-Pierre will share with us how he sees aesthetics is at the core of our practice and how it can help us as Gestalt therapists and how it can be used in our therapist/patient process.
10:00AM-11:30AM PT
Zoom
29
June
This introductory workshop invites therapists, trainees, Gestalt practitioners, and coaches to explore the Gestalt concept of introjection through the lens of gender identity.
In Gestalt theory, an introject is a belief or norm unconsciously absorbed from our environment without being fully assimilated. Participants will briefly examine how gender assigned at birth can become an introjected construct—a heteronormative expectation imposed by caregivers and society—which may conflict with an individual’s authentic gender identity.
Through theoretical framing and focused experiential exercises, participants will reflect on how these introjects can lead to internal conflicts such as feelings of incongruence or self-negation when one’s true self does not align with assigned labels. Emphasizing Gestalt principles such as contact at the boundary, awareness, and organismic self-regulation, this session will briefly introduce an affirmative therapeutic approach to working with gender diversity.
10:00AM-11:30AM PT
Zoom
Past Salons
26
April
Join us for an exciting new salon offering with Certified Gestalt Therapist and PGI Faculty member, Ren Barnebey.
Most of us have experienced repetitive pain that never seems to fully resolve or finish. We can spend a lifetime nursing wounds, resentments and painful patterns that endure in spite of how much therapy and personal work we’ve done.
Eugene Gendlin developed a process called Focusing which is simple practice to do, but can have profoundly healing effects.
In this workshop-style salon Ren Barnebey will describe the process of Focusing, illustrate how Focusing is actually a practical application of the phenomenological and dialogue and how this simple practice can be utilized for our own healing as well as our clients.
Brief lecture along with experiential exercises. No partner work is required. Demonstration if time allows.
For experienced and beginning gestalt therapists
10:00AM-11:30AM PT
Zoom
23
March
This workshop-like salon views movement as the foundation of all contacting. Kinetic engagement with one’s own body – and the bodies of others – can simultaneously make us aware of our own basic fragility, our interconnectedness, and our power to create ourselves and our lives. By paying attention to the movement within us, between us, and around us, we make sense of the world. This workshop will include movement-based experiments, lectures, and shared discoveries to help foster our kinesthesia and increase our awareness of how we are simultaneously shaping our interactions and being shaped by them. In this way each can participate in inventing themselves and the world with, and through, each other.
10:00-11:30AM PT
Zoom
9
February
In the second installment of our GTILA salon series Remembering Erv Polster, Alan Cohen (New York) will present videos featuring Erv and share insights into Erv’s vibrant personality, his passion for connecting with people, and his enduring contributions to the field.
10:00-11:30AM PT
Zoom
19
January
This presentation describes how trauma affects the mind and body, how we conceptualize trauma from a Gestalt lens, and how clinicians can use process-based interventions to help heal the impact of trauma and restore wellness.
All proceeds from this salon were donated to Los Angeles fire relief through Direct Relief.
10:00-11:30AM PT
Zoom
10
November
In this GTILA salon Michelle Fryback and Chris Avitabile, both Certified Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapists, will introduce you to psychedelic supported therapy including preparation, medicine day journey and integration sessions using a Gestalt therapy lens.
Chris and Michelle will elaborate on how relational Gestalt therapy is a complete supportive theory for psychedelic journey work, and ways it can help therapists to facilitate integration for clients who might have had experiences both difficult and/or life changing.
Tickets are available on EventBrite
10:00-11:30AM PT
Zoom
20
October
Join us on October 20th as Lynne Jacobs engages with the GTILA community in an enriching two-part salon series dedicated to the legacy of Erv Polster. Experience a heartfelt conversation exploring the profound impact Erv had on one of the foremost voices in Gestalt Therapy. Lynne reflects on their spirited discourses surrounding the nuances of theory and practice, which were not only enjoyable but also deeply enlightening.
“We used love to argue with each other about the theory and practice of gestalt therapy. That was always fun and enriching. Meanwhile, I was learning from him about the superlative joys of small moments.” – Lynne Jacobs
We invite you to be part of this special tribute. Register now.