10 years Gestalt Foundation

1998 – 2008
10 YEARS GESTALT FOUNDATION
VISION, CREATION, EVOLUTION

Getting in touch with Gestalt Psychotherapy in the early eighties, we have experienced it not just as a therapeutic approach that focuses only on the symptoms and the pathology of a person but also as a philosophy and attitude towards life. A philosophy based on the holistic and existential consideration of a person and which includes faith to his ability for creative adjustment and growth.

OUR VISION

• The spread of the Gestalt approach and philosophy to mental health professionals
• The foundation of an integrated and organized educational program in Gestalt Psychotherapy which can diachronically meet society’s, psychotherapy’s and especially Gestalt psychotherapy’s needs

OUR COURSE

Gestalt Foundation, Psychotherapy and Training Center, was “born” in 1998 from our wish, as its founders (Yianna Yiamarelou, Antonia Konstantinidou, Despina Balliou & Katia Hatzilakou), to organize an integrated educational program based on the approach we had all experienced, believed in and loved; the Gestalt psychotherapy approach.

During the nineties, where training in psychology was making its first academic steps in Greece and it was offered only by a few institutes, we dared to introduce a four-year training program of high standards.

Our first concern was the design and the application of a training program as well as its accreditation by qualified and authoritative institutions.

The first accreditation came from EAGT (European Association for Gestalt Therapy, 1999). Later NOPG (National Organization of Psychotherapy in Greece) followed.

The procedures we had to follow to acquire these accreditations helped us to improve our first design and to think harder and deeper into our goals and the means for its accomplishment. They also helped us to take difficult but necessary decisions for our growth and development.

The feedback by the people who decided to cooperate with us through all these years, justified our initiative. More and more students and mental health professionals visited us and asked for information about the Gestalt approach and our activities.

The main comments for our training program concern its integration and the harmonious balance between theory, experience and clinical practice. Through our course and droved by our desire to make the best out of our potential, significant activities, collaborations and re-examinations, that we had not planned for, aroused and turned out to be especially important for our identity of today.

Briefly we mention the original ritual of “Profile” as the first professional presentation of our graduates, and the annual four-day workshop, enriched and developed year by year in place and time of meeting and exchange, that helped us to become more aware of our growth with the feeling that we belong in a community where all of us can co-create and contribute, each one with its own unique way.

Our need to follow the developments in Gestalt psychotherapy field drove to Katia’s Hatzilakou election in EAGT’s Board of Directors which involved a lot of work and responsibilities but added prestige and increased the influence of our Center abroad as well.

The exchange of trainers and the constant updating of current bibliography of our field motivated us to develop important innovations in the “tradition” of Gestalt psychotherapy such as combination of phenomenological diagnosis and DSM, division of our training program into two circles of studies. The second circle is mainly focused in clinical practice and supervision, shifting gradually from experiential procedure or methodology to subtle procedures of contact and dialogue. Furthermore, the extension of collaboration with institutions created a whole network of psychosocial support. Finally, the creation of our half-yearly newsletter “Gestalt Foundation News” which is distributed for free and also available on our official website (www.gestaltfoundation.gr) both in Greek and in English, enriched the way of communication and exchange of a community which is continuously growing.

The results of our efforts towards establishing and spreading Gestalt psychotherapy approach in Greece was shown even more by the fact that our Center was assigned to organize the 9th European Conference of Gestalt Psychotherapy which was held in Athens in September 2007. The trust which European Association for Gestalt Therapy (EAGT) honored us with by the assignment of this organization, the response of the global Gestalt scientific community with the participation of 500 psychotherapists but also the support of EAGT, Hellenic National Commission for Unesco, Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Hellenic Ministry of Health that have put this organization under their auspices, were the confirmation and the recognition of the evolutionary and dynamic course of our center.

WERE WE ARE TODAY

Today our Center is accredited by EAGT (European Association for Gestalt Therapy), by EAP (European Association for Phychotherapy) and is a full member of NOPG (National Organization of Psychotherapy in Greece) and counts 90 graduates and 90 trainees.

Gestalt Foundation cooperates with Gestalt Training Associations abroad a fact that plays a major role in the development of training, theory and research.

We are active collaborators in the European Union by participating in decision making procedures for the progress of Gestalt psychotherapy on European level.

We are convinced for the significance of trainers’ exchange, not only among European Union countries but also among other countries, that is why we invite systematically foreign trainers to teach Gestalt psychotherapy in our Center. In addition to the basic four-year Training Program for Gestalt Psychotherapy we offer other programs aiming at approaching effectively needs that arise in specialized fields such as:

• Gestalt Training Program in Organizations (Organizational)
  The application of Gestalt Psychotherapy approach in organizations is appropriate and effective on matters that have to do with the management of leadership, conflicts, internal dysfunctional communication, lack of participation and commitment for goals accomplishment, group collaboration and resistance in changes. Gestalt Foundation collaborates with trainers and consultants specialized in this field.
• Gestalt Training Program for Educators (Educational)
  The effectiveness of phenomenological procedure and methodology in trainer – trainee interaction as well as the observation of its applications in pedagogic action through researches, presentations and scientific meetings of international Gestalt community, lead us to the creation of several collaborations, seminars and intervention programs.
• Continuing Education Program (Advanced)
  Taking under consideration the fact that environment, sciences, technology and consequently societies, perceptions and attitudes of people are continuously changing, renewing and evolving, lifelong learning is considered to be necessary for a psychotherapist. For that reason our Center runs continuing training programs through a series of specialized seminars and supervisions.
• Community Work
  We believe that an active social interest is very crucial and for that reason we encourage our trainees to get involved with community work through their clinical practice by organizing a network in collaboration with social, non-profit unions, associations and institutions.

OUR GOALS FOR THE FUTURE

Our intention is to keep up not only with psychotherapy’s evolution but also with the constantly changing needs and problems of the direct and wider social field, maintaining as our main goal the development of the training programs and activities both in scientific and educational terms.

Our pretension is to realize this development through the:

• Enrichment of the Educational procedure with new methods
• Intensification of Gestalt theory and applications
• Enrichment of Greek bibliography for Gestalt theory
• Participation of Greek Gestalt therapists in international bibliography
• Conduct of researches and participation in them
• Creative exploitation of our postgraduates

In conclusion, we wish to thank our entire fellow “travelers”, teachers, trainees, postgraduates, collaborators and institutions which have contributed in this productive and fascinating journey.

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