Gestalt Therapy

I am a graduate of the Gestalt Institute of New England. I have four years of postgraduate training in Gestalt psychotherapy.

Gestalt is an experiential, relational approach which uses the present moment to guide the session. It is a collaborative process between client and therapist, allowing the therapeutic relationship to serve as a safe and healing space for the client. Gestalt creates an opportunity for the client to have a new experience through the metabolization of trauma. We do this attending to the physical manifestations of the trauma in real time.

It can help you increase your awareness of what you are experiencing (psychically and emotionally) in each moment.

Gestalt therapy helps you resolve past conflicts and learn to live in the present. By focusing attention on your inner self, you can release worries about the past or the future and engage with the present. When you accept the past, you can find peace in each present moment and enrich your interactions in the world around you. Dream work, day dreams and daily events can be used to explore unconscious imprints that, with a change in attitude, can improve the quality of your life.

I focus on the here and now, understanding the past exists, but not allowing the to define your future.

The interactive, experiential, present-moment nature of Gestalt Therapy has been my guiding framework since I first became a therapist. I've utilized and created my own Gestalt experiments that bring clients into a direct experience of healing in many varied contexts. My supervisor is Joan Rieger, Director the Gestalt Institute of the Rockies.

I believe in the power behind Gestalt therapy to harness emotions and the here and now. I have had great success in utilizing the Empty Chair Technique

I utilize Gestalt therapy every day. It seamlessly integrates into my session, and the focus on the "here and now," is extremely beneficial to my clients. Some believe that it can be harsh and cold, but the focus, when employed in my sessions over the years, has been understanding feelings, thoughts, and emotions when discussing them with someone else.

While working on increasing a person's awareness, freedom, and self-direction, I assist clients with learning how to focuse on being actively present in the moment while exploring past experiences as they may surface throughout the therapeutic process.

Working with the body and the different parts within yourself are very powerful and effective ways to gain deeper insight into what is going on with us.

With this approach, we will work together to focus on your experience in the present moment.

“Gestalt therapy is about helping people become aware of what they do and how they do it, and to encourage living in the present, to ‘be here now,’ and make better choices.” – Violet Oaklander. In Gestalt therapy, I use talk or play to help you or your child experience, explore, and process thoughts, feelings and sensations to bring greater awareness, self-understanding and empowerment. I am not an ‘expert’ but a partner on your journey, in the process with you every step of the way.

Gestalt therapy is a relational kind of therapy that focuses on your life here and now. It emphasizes your strengths and accepting yourself the way you are. Gestalt therapy is also creative, helping you to work on your issues via different kinds of experiments. Gestalt therapy with me is lively, interactive and engaging. We will focus on options more than obstacles, the present more than the past, and strengths more than weaknesses.

Sometimes just talking about a problem doesn't quite get the job done. By engaging in "safe experiments" in session, Gestalt therapy helps us to release ourselves from the bondage of old emotional wounds.

I am a Certified Gestalt Therapist and trained at the Gestalt Associates for Psychotherapy 4 year Clinical Fellowship Program.