what is gestalt therapy?

Gestalt therapy is a present-moment, relational approach that invites curiosity about how you move, feel, and make meaning of your experience.

What does “present-moment” mean? Rather than (only) talking about what’s going on in your life, we’ll spend time paying attention to how you’re telling your story: your body language, the words you’re using today, what you’re including/leaving out of the story this time, what it’s like to share with me, etc. The subtext contained in how you’re talking about your experience can give you/us even deeper understanding of what’s happening.

What does “relational” mean? We are relational beings, born to impact each other (whether we like it or not!). We are always influencing and being influenced by each other - usually unaware, sometimes having OTT reactions without understanding why. In therapy, we have the opportunity to learn how we impact and are impacted by others (without judgement), which can help us understand our reactions/responses, and help us understand how others react/respond to us.

This experiential, experimental modality supports embodied awareness, honours your lived experience, and trusts that you already make sense, just as you are.

personalized therapy: grounded in your lived, felt experience

Gestalt therapy is grounded in phenomenology: the philosophy and study of your unique lived and felt experience. Rather than categorizing you into a diagnostic box, a phenomenological approach takes interest in your precise experience of a lived moment, and the meaning you ascribe to your experience.

For example, we know an hour is 60min. Sometimes an hour can feel like it flies by, like when you’re walking in nature or visiting with a friend. Other times, though, an hour can feel like an eternity, like an interminable car ride when you just want to be there, or sitting through a movie that’s not your jam. Objectively, the hour always has 60min. But phenomenologically, an hour can be experienced in many different ways, depending on the person (or the day, the context).

New perspective - In therapy, when we bring awareness and curiosity to how you experience what’s happening in your life, we can better understand how and why you’re making meaning of your experience, and decide whether/how to reassess the conclusions your making about yourself, or the situation.

your context matters

Field Theory is one of the foundations of Gestalt therapy, and it posits that we are always in relationship and responding to what’s happening around us (aka the environment). Therefore, our behaviour (reactions, responses, sensations) are a (usually unconscious) response to the field - the “vibes.”

When we meet in therapy, I appreciate that you exist in a context. You are never separate from your context. You come in with your subjective experience (your thoughts, behaviours, imagination, relationships), as well as your particular context (the constantly-shifting environment that impacts and influences your experience).

Because I can’t know your context until we’ve spent considerable time together, our work together is about building trust and support for you to share your experience, as and when details are relevant. That’s why I do not work in a diagnostic model, but rather an emergent model.

I might ask, who or what are you in the ecosystem of your family? your job? your relationship? How did you come to accept this role? What does this role do for you, or how does it limit you? What else might be possible with different supports?

Our work together can help you to better understand your responses to the environment, the ecosystem, and work toward building trust in yourself.