A creative equal encounter of Gestalt therapy with the performing and visual arts through a cycle of workshops.

We live with very different challenges even compared to just the previous generation. We worry about the environment, about people on the edge of poverty, about wars. Our world can be overwhelmingly full of challenges. In this ever-changing situation, encountering and utilizing the Gestalt therapeutic approach and the tools of the performing and visual arts can be a port, an escape. It can be a safety valve, releasing tension and energy when nothing else seems possible.

The integration of art into psychotherapeutic practice has been established for years as an effective intervention that contributes to the recovery and rehabilitation of mental illness. Nevertheless, this integration is often a challenge for mental health professionals, as there is no systematic and reliable way of choosing the appropriate intervention depending on the type of psychological difficulties and the stage of the therapeutic process. On the other hand, Gestalt psychotherapy based on phenomenology and existential dialogue is a suitable field where art and the possibilities it offers can be integrated into the psychotherapeutic process and contribute to the realization of therapeutic goals.

The aim of these workshops is the systematic recording and highlighting of tools and techniques that come from the field of visual and performing arts and have been successfully integrated into the Gestalt psychotherapy methodology. Utilizing and documenting the multi-year experience (>25 years) of 30 Gestalt psychotherapists and artist collaborators, a systematic record of strategies, tools and techniques that have been used in individual or group psychotherapy and have been empirically demonstrated as good practices was made.

In each workshop, the goals of each intervention, the therapeutic stage at which it is appropriate to be used and the expected therapeutic benefits are mentioned. In addition, space and time is given to experience and discuss on the one hand the process of choosing the appropriate tool by the therapist so that the integration of art in psychotherapy is always based on the therapeutic goals and on the other hand, the respect and application of the moral and ethical rules that govern the psychotherapeutic practice when it incorporates artistic expression.

With this expressive methodology based on the principles of phenomenology, which aims to activate our expressive means, with or without verbal articulation, we are led to transformative experiences and acquire a valuable work tool both in therapy and in any other humanitarian and educational field.

The cycle of workshops (Total hours 102, webinars 60, summer camp 42) is addressed both to Gestalt psychotherapists as a continuing education activity and to therapists of other approaches, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, social anthropologists, teachers, artists and includes theory, experiential and teaching experience as well as supervision.