Arnold R. Beisser, M.D. Scholarship
Fund Application
The Arnold R. Beisser, M.D. Scholarship Fund is a philanthropic program offered by GTILA to support trainees who have enrolled for gestalt therapy training in the greater Los Angeles area at one of our two affiliated training organizations, Gestalt Associates Training Los Angeles (GATLA) and Pacific Gestalt Institute (PGI) and can demonstrate financial need. The purpose of this program is to make gestalt training more accessible to those who are interested but would otherwise not be able to afford the training in gestalt therapy.
Founding Member, Trainer, Mentor and Friend
Dr. Arnold Beisser
Dr. Arnold Beisser was a founding member and trainer with GTILA and the author of The Paradoxical Theory of Change. He was a graduate of Stanford University and its medical school and a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Beisser was instrumental in the formation of the Westside Center for Living, a training center in community mental health and wrote Mental Health Consultation and Education. Dr. Beisser also wrote The Madness in Sports and was a consultant to the Baseball Commission. He was a Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a recipient of its Gold Achievement Award.
During the last few years of his life, Dr. Beisser wrote a trilogy of books: Flying Without Wings, A Graceful Passage – Notes on the Freedom to Live or Die, and The Only Gift – Thoughts on the Meaning of Friends and Friendship. He was survived by his wife, Rita, who went to meet him again in 2017. Dr. Beisser was mentor and friend to many and a treasure to us all. He is well missed.
Partial scholarships are granted by the GTILA Board of Directors based on the availability of funds and the applicant’s financial need. Funds will be disbursed directly to the approved gestalt therapy training institute.