A four-module professional Gestalt training.
A four-year, part-time training delivered internationally, accredited with CAGA, under the umbrella of the Derimu school of psychology. The course is structured as four modules — Foundations, Relational Practice, Advanced Integration, and Supervision & Practicum — each with defined objectives, content areas, and assessments.
"Gestalt training is not a curriculum delivered at the student. It is a learning environment entered with the student. The aim is the practitioner's own ground — the capacity to trust process, sit in the creative void, and meet the field."
Foundations
Theoretical framework, awareness practice, and the experiential grounding of contemporary Gestalt.
- ·Establish awareness practice and figure-ground formation
- ·Develop phenomenological method in clinical work
- ·Engage contact, contact-boundary, and responsibility
- ·Read field theory in the wider systemic view
- →Overview of Gestalt
- →Gestalt psychology · awareness · figure/ground
- →Field theory and its clinical implications
- →Contact and the contact-boundary phenomenon
- →I–Thou and dreamwork
- →Process group as learning method
- ◇Submission of awareness journal
- ◇Mid-year tutorial observation
- ◇Year-end phenomenological interview
Relational Practice
Dialogic method, I–Thou contact, shame-aware practice, and the personality of the practitioner.
- ·Hold the dialogic stance and sit in the creative void
- ·Work with shame, support, and developmental repair
- ·Develop style, authenticity, and the Unvirtues
- ·Work with polarities and interruption in contact
- →Phenomenology and the Gestalt experiment
- →Supervision · evaluation
- →Middle zone, metaphor, fantasy, and Ericksonian approaches
- →Art and creative media in clinical work
- →Organismic self-regulation
- →Style and authenticity · The Unvirtues
- ◇Live demonstration hour
- ◇Supervision hour observed
- ◇Process group reflection paper
Advanced Integration
Couples, family, trauma, psychopathology, and the larger ecology of clinical Gestalt practice.
- ·Practice couples and family work
- ·Work with trauma, abuse, and the body
- ·Read character and personality systems clinically
- ·Facilitate group process and large-field work
- →Shame and group dynamics
- →Couples, family, and the suicide question
- →Psychopathology · character and personality systems
- →Sexuality · ethics · practice management
- →Developmental approaches and the transpersonal
- →Advanced history · trauma and abuse work
- →Addictions and working with children
- →Gestalt, organisations, and the larger ecology
- ◇Practitioner-led supervision hour
- ◇Case formulation paper
- ◇Group process facilitation
Supervision & Practicum
Supervised clinical practice, ethics, and the path to professional registration.
- ·Receive and integrate direct supervision (live, video, audio)
- ·Manage ethics, practice management, and boundaries
- ·Carry a practicum case load across the year
- ·Reach evaluation-ready competence for registration
- →Direct clinical supervision • 70 hours casework
- →Ethics and registration readiness
- →Practice management and the fee-for-service model
- →Live evaluation · viva-style integration talk
- ◇Direct supervision pass · viva voce
- ◇Ethics case review pass
- ◇Final registration portfolio
By invitation, from many walks of life.
Eligibility is determined by a combination of factors — life experience, self-awareness, academic background, personal stability, openness to feedback, and a capacity to reflect on and learn from experience. This is designated as a professional program, but applicants come from all walks of life. Sufficient life experience can constitute an admissible prerequisite as much as a formal academic qualification.
Applications are by invitation only, made through the application form on the website. Once accepted, applicants sign a learning contract; after commencement, fees are non-refundable. See the Refund & Cancellation policy for the full terms.
- · The timetable is set at the start of the training year; changes are kept to a minimum.
- · Trainers treat trainees with respect, supporting the learning process of both individuals and the group.
- · Trainers have a solid background of training experience and are internationally recognised.
- · Trainers adhere to a professional code of ethics.
- · No discrimination on the basis of gender, class, cultural background, sexual preference, or belief.
- · The program is constantly evolving to incorporate feedback, current best practice, and the standards of accrediting organisations.
- · No hidden costs — all financial requirements are spelled out at the start of each year.
"Just as the melody is not made up of notes nor the verse of words nor the statue of lines, but they must be tugged and dragged till their unity has been scattered into these many pieces; so with the man to whom I say Thou."
Ready to apply?
Applications for the next intake are open. The team will respond personally with the invitation process and timeline.