About the Gestalt School in Lodz
The task of the Lodz Gestalt School team is to prepare trainees holistically to work as Gestalt Psychotherapists, meeting all the standards of the EAGT Association, under which the School is subordinate. As a result, the participant, after completing the 4-year training process of the Lodz Gestalt School, will be able to apply for the EAGT Certificate (European Association for Gestalt Therapy). The training takes place in two stages:
Development stage I – the so-called. development year, preparing for the second stage. It is an introduction to Gestalt modality theory and practice.
Stage II school – 3-year program for acquiring competence for psychotherapeutic work.
All classes at the Lodz Gestalt School, both at the developmental stage and at the school stage, are evaluated.
Conditions for the admission of participants for further training:
- Completion of the Developmental Stage at the Lodz Gestalt School or at another School of the same modality,
- Positive decision of the committee on admission after an interview – preceding School Stage II. About the interview, trainees will be informed until a few days after the Development Stage. The participant will learn about the outcome of the interview within 3 days. If the decision is negative, the committee will provide the reason for the decision and give guidance on what area still needs to be worked on.
Workshops at the Lodz Gestalt School
In addition to our 4-year training process, we also offer various workshops for psychotherapists, which are led by gestaltists from around the world. The goal of our workshops is the personal and professional development of therapists in specific topics of psychotherapy.
For more information on our workshops, please visit our Workshops for Psychotherapists page.
A list of our current events can be found on our Gestalt Workshops page.
Gestalt school – Objectives of education
General:
- Understand and move freely within the framework of Gestalt psychotherapy theory.
- Acquiring and developing skills as a Gestalt therapist.
- Expand self-awareness and the ability to apply it to psychotherapeutic practice and supervision.
- Awareness of one’s own process of becoming a Gestalt therapist.
- The ability to critically evaluate Gestalt theory and practice.
- Building an attitude of curiosity and an attitude of continuous learning and deepening of knowledge and skills in the area of Gestalt therapy.
- The ability to reflect on one’s own psychotherapeutic practice: priming one’s own resources and working on limitations.
- Building an attitude of curiosity about the development of the Gestalt trend, updating knowledge regarding research in the area of Gestalt theory and therapy.
Detailed:
- Understand the specific theoretical background of Gestalt psychotherapy, including: coming into contact, contact boundary, consciousness, phenomenology, existentialism, dialogue, field theory, paradoxical theory of change, holism, “here and now” perspective, self theory, figure and background dynamics, contact sequence, contact styles, transference and countertransference phenomena.
- The ability to create conditions and coexist with the client in the therapeutic relationship, with the intention of being fully present, with the awareness of one’s own limitations in being in the relationship, and with the assumption that the relationship is equal (in terms of the value of the beliefs, feelings, insights of the therapist and the client).
- Understand what it is and know how to use diagnosis, which is not a description, but a tool to organize one’s own experience with the client:
- Use of internal/aesthetic diagnosis, ability to recognize contact disturbances,
- to move freely in the DSM and ICD classification systems, mainly to communicate with other professionals, to look critically at these systems with an awareness of their value and risks,
- Understanding and ability to see figures appearing in the field, awareness of both content and process.
- Acquisition of contracting skills (building goals, plans and strategies) based on understanding of the clinical situation, ability to create hypotheses, work possibilities, awareness of difficulties, risks and therapeutic phases; conscious decision-making regarding the initiation of therapy with a given client.
- Acquisition of knowledge and competence in the field of setting (concerning the form – individual, group, couples – duration and specific conditions and limitations of the Gestalt approach, as well as in relation to the limits of one’s competence).
- Acquire the ability to give specific, authentic and supportive feedback.
- The ability to create and sustain a therapeutic alliance.
- Ability to apply Gestalt-specific interventions and techniques: awareness, contact, experiment, dialogue, phenomenological method.
- Understanding and ability to work with change, crisis and trauma.
- Knowledge and ability to work towards closing the therapy process.
- Ability to collaborate with other professionals, including psychotherapists of other strands.
- Awareness and understanding of EAGT ethical standards.
- Ability to use supervision and intervision.
- Developing sensitivity to civilization and cultural issues, including developing interests in the area of cultural, racial, gender, age, class, disability diversity.
- Understand the need to engage in the study of research in Gestalt theory and psychotherapy.
Gestalt School – Certificate
The training program corresponds to the standards of the EAGT and PTPG Societies, so our students, after completing the full 4-year training process in Gestalt Psychotherapy and fulfilling the requirements of the aforementioned associations, will be able to apply for certification:
- EAGT – European Association for Gestalt Therapy
and/or
- PTPG – Polish Society for Gestalt Psychotherapy
For more information on both associations, see the EAGT and PTPG tabs on our website.
