We sometimes encounter a too light approach to learning this profession, so we are writing a few words about what and how we teach at the Lodz Gestalt School. We would like to stimulate a sense of responsibility in candidates before the recruitment process begins, that the profession of psychotherapist and the path to it are difficult; they require constantly being in a kind of challenge with oneself, because both self-psychotherapy and learning at the school means working on one’s own open, often wounded heart….
And that it really is not light work. Although it can sometimes be very beautiful….
What is the profession of psychotherapist
“Psychotherapy is the art of being present to emergent absences.”
– Gianni Francesetti.
The profession of psychotherapist is associated with the provision of mental health assistance to people who are experiencing the fragility of their inner world. It is a profession of public trust, where, like the medical profession, the principle of “first, do no harm” applies. As we know, the possibility of harming people in various kinds of crises or mental difficulties is high. People who want to practice the profession of psychotherapy have often experienced deep psychological wounds themselves, which makes them more empathetic on the one hand, and more prone to the risk of retraumatization on the other.
Hence, it is essential in this profession that the person providing psychotherapeutic services is aware of his/her own power, but also helplessness towards the human psyche. Psychotherapy in the Gestalt current presupposes the psychotherapist’s readiness to share with the client his/her experience of contact with him/her and to work with an “open heart.” This readiness must come from being deeply grounded, i.e. grounded in oneself, understanding one’s mechanisms of creative adaptation and the impact they have on the contacting process.
The profession of psychotherapist and the path to it are difficult, requiring constant being in some kind of challenge with oneself. Hence the training process in this profession is long, even continuous, and not always linear. The formal part of this process is a 4-year holistic therapeutic training conducted in the Gestalt movement, which is experiential in nature. The entire developmental year is based on group process work and requires a willingness to unveil oneself. Subsequent years involve learning to work therapeutically with the client, which involves practicing practical skills based on gradually acquired knowledge. The work is workshop-based and requires self-awareness, an understanding of one’s own mental processes and good contact with oneself, as well as mental stability. Entering psychotherapy school involves being in self-therapy.
Every student is different, which means that the level of readiness for psychotherapeutic work varies from person to person along with the course of study. The role of the school’s team is to evaluate the student’s progress, communicate clearly in this regard, and provide support and recommendations for the direction of the student’s own work to become a psychotherapist.
It is the student’s responsibility to be sincere and honest with himself first. Faced with the question of whether and to what extent I am ready to undertake the study of psychotherapy at this point in my life. Do I have sufficient support, a stable life and mental situation, and am I not in active addiction or violence. Next, openness to the training group and the coaching team with anything that might affect one’s own resources and limitations. This openness and honesty remains an essential feature, if not a requirement, of practicing as a psychotherapist, as it is the guardian of the ethics of our work. An outward manifestation of ethics is the requirement for supervision, continuing education and reaching out to self-therapy when the need arises.