Thursday 18/05/2017 (3rd year training group) 

• “Content-Process : The what and how in Gestalt therapy”

“The proper, the appropriate and the timely” with just three words Aristotle illustrates the process as the continuum in the space-time. In this meeting we will discuss and explore how the meaning of these words, as parts of the space-time field, affect us and expand the concept of the relational in the present.

Saturday 20/05/2017 (open training group) 

• “Expansion of a Relationship through diversity, a perpetual process”

Human relationships can be Friendly, Intimate or Companionship, Parental, Collegial, Social, Political, Economical. In all kinds of relationships what comes up as a dominant characteristic is “respect”. What is respect? How do we define it? It exists? It happens? In this meeting we will look back at the philosophical questions and experience of the past and through the Platonic myth of Gyges we will delve and give meaning to the “relational” in today’s’ world.

Yianna Yiamarelou, M.A. Clinical Psychology, Gestalt Psychotherapist, Trainer & Supervisor, member of EAGT. ECP Holder (European Certificate of Psychotherapy). Founding member of the Hellenic Association for Gestalt Therapy.

Ada Giagou, Psychologist – Gestalt Psychotherapist, member of EAGT and HAGT, supervisor at the clinical practice of Gestalt Foundation at Juvenile Detention Center of Diavata. Trainer trainee

George Giaglis, MD, MSc, PhD, specialist neurologist, psychologist, Gestalt Psychotherapist. He has postgraduate studies in Medical Research Technology, in Statistics, in Cognitive Psychology and Neuropsychology and in Adult Education. He has been trained in Neuropsychiatry and Neuropsychology at London, UK. He has completed the 4-year training in Gestalt Psychotherapy at the Gestalt Foundation, Greece. He works and collaborates with various institutions as a trainer, as a researcher and as a therapist. He collaborates with the Psychotherapy & Training Center Gestalt Foundation, as a seminar coordinator. Trainer trainee

Friday 19/05 and Saturday 20/05/2017 (open training group)

•  “The balance of the Pendulum”

Watching the movement of the pendulum, a watch for example, we observe the change of movement and the monotonous repetition of the same positions over and over again. It goes from a momentary immobility to acceleration, reaching the zenith of velocity in the nadir of its spatial height; then to deceleration, then to momentary immobility and from there back to the beginning again. It seems immobile within a constant reciprocating motion. The repeatability produces an image of permanence. Motion gives the impression of…immobility. Nevertheless the hands are permanently turning towards the same direction and that is the process of the watch. In the process of life we explore the phenomenon of certainty inside uncertainty and the meaning of this paradoxical condition in the field of psychotherapy.

George Diplas, PgD in PCA Counseling, Gestalt therapist, trainer and supervisor, EAGT member (European Association for Gestalt Therapy), ECP holder and member of the Hellenic Association for Gestalt Therapy (H.A.G.T.)

Ada Giagou, Psychologist – Gestalt Psychotherapist, member of EAGT and HAGT, supervisor at the clinical practice of Gestalt Foundation at Juvenile Detention Center of Diavata. Trainer trainee

Thursday 18/05/2015 (2nd year training group) 

• “The self as a Realization of the Potential”

“The present is a transition from past to future and these are the parts that compose the scene of an act by the self, as it comes in contact with reality” that is what Perls, Hefferline, & Goodman mention in “Gestalt Therapy: Excitement and Growth in the Human Personality” (1951). And here the “reality” is not an “objective” static situation but that which happens through action during contact. In the same way, the self is not a concrete conceptual construction. On the contrary self happens each time during the act of contact, there where everything is potentially feasible!

Friday 19 & Saturday 20/05/2017 (open training group) 

• “Who am I?”

Am I my body? My thoughts? My emotions? My actions? Nothing of the above? All of the above? Or and something more? We will experiment with these questions using meditation techniques and the process of touch in the here and now.

Antonia Kostantinidou, M.Sc. Clinical & Social Psychology (A.U.Th.), Gestalt Psychotherapist, Trainer & Supervisor, member of EAGT and the National Psychotherapy Company of Greece. ECP Holder (European Certificate of Psychotherapy). President & Representative of the Hellenic Association for Gestalt Therapy.

Katerina Siampani, MSc Counseling Psychology, University of Sheffield, Gestalt Psychotherapist, Trained in Art-Therapy. Member of EAGT and of the Hellenic Association for Gestalt Therapy, accredited by the National Accreditation Centre for Continuing Vocational Training (EKEPIS). She has been working for many years at W.M.C.A. of Kalamaria (Thessaloniki, Greece) and elected in the Executive Board in W.M.C.A. of Greece. For the last five years she has been working at the Greek Association of Alzheimer Disease and Related Disorders, while she is working as psychotherapist. Since 2008 she has been collaborating with Psychotherapy & Training Center Gestalt Foundation as coordinator in training workshops.

Ada Giagou, Psychologist – Gestalt Psychotherapist, member of EAGT and HAGTsupervisor at the clinical practice of Gestalt Foundation at Juvenile Detention Center of Diavata. Trainer trainee

Konstantinos Kostas, psychologist, social worker and Gestalt psychotherapist. Member of EAGT (European Association for Gestalt Therapy) and vice president of the Hellenic Association for Gestalt Psychotherapy (H.A.G.T.) and member of the Association of Social Workers of Greece. Gestalt Foundation graduate.. Trainer trainee

Thursday 18/05/ 2017 (4th year training group) 

• “Don’t Push the River…” F. Perls

How true? How Lie? Let’s explore it…

Friday 19/ 05/ 2017 (open training group) 

• “Each one of us is such a lump of mud… What is our duty?” N. Kazantzakis

“…I am not a suspended, rootles thing in the world…

I am earth of its earth and breathe of its breath.

I am a weak, ephemeral creature made of mud and dream. Humanity is such a lump of mud, each one of us is such a lump of mud. What is our duty? To struggle so that a small flower may blossom from the dunghill of our flesh and mind…”

N. Kazantzakis/ Excerpt from Ascesis: The Saviors of God

Saturday 20/05/2017 (open training group) 

• “The awareness of uncertainty in the therapeutic process”

“As much support as necessary and as little as possible” is what Laura Perls writes when she refers to the support that the therapist needs to provide in the therapy room. And in fact a “well balanced” support from the therapist towards the patient can cultivate a quality contact.

But sometimes a therapist, exaggerating, may end up working driven by the need of safety, self-protection, and self-care while it is well established that at any given time insecurity enters our lives for the simple reason that we are complex beings and we live and breathe in a complex environment.

But what happens with uncertainty in the therapeutic process?

How much of this experience we allow to surface?

What happens with the therapists’ uncertainty?

What happens when sometimes a patient seeks absolute safety from the therapist?

How much room does the process of awareness allows to the inclusion of the sense of uncertainty?

So does this Laura Perls phrase expressed as “as much as”, includes both?

Certainty and Uncertainty?

Despina Balliou, M.Sc. Counselling Psychology, Gestalt Psychotherapist, Trainer & Supervisor, member of EAGT. Trained in Traumatotherapy’s method EMDR. ECP Holder (European Certificate of Psychotherapy). Founding member and secretary of the board of the Hellenic Association for Gestalt Therapy.

George Giaglis, MD, MSc, PhD, neurology specialist, psychologist. He has postgraduate studies in Medical Research Technology, in Statistics, in Cognitive Psychology and Neuropsychology and in Adult Education. He has been trained in Neuropsychiatry and Neuropsychology at London, UK. He has completed the 4-year training in Gestalt Psychotherapy at the Gestalt Foundation, Greece. He works and collaborates with various institutions as a trainer, as a researcher and as a therapist. He collaborates with the Psychotherapy & Training Center Gestalt Foundation, as a seminar coordinator. Trainer trainee.

Thursday 18/05/2017 (1st year training group) 

• “… Impasse …”

Osho in his book “The Hidden Harmony” (Speeches on Heraclitus) quotes “Everything comes in its own time” (Rebel, 2003). I wander; can I wait without forcing things?

Friday 19/05/2017 (open training group) 

• “Spiral…tornado or labyrinth?”

The spiral is connected to the navel, as the center of life and power and it can be observed in both our finger prints and our DNA. It symbolizes the rebirth and the eternal life. We can only imagine that the soul lives forever, evolving in the space-time.

Katia Hatzilakou, M.Sc. Clinical & Social Psychology (A.U.Th.), Gestalt Psychotherapist, Trainer & Supervisor, member of EAGT (ex-Chair of NOGT and External Relation of EAGT) and the National Psychotherapy Company of Greece. ECP Holder (European Certificate of Psychotherapy). Founding member of the Hellenic Association for Gestalt Therapy.

Konstantinos Kostas, psychologist, social worker and Gestalt psychotherapist. Member of EAGT (European Association for Gestalt Therapy) and vice president of the Hellenic Association for Gestalt Psychotherapy (H.A.G.T.) and member of the Association of Social Workers of Greece. Gestalt Foundation graduate.. Trainer trainee

Konstantinos Katsamakis, Kinesiologist, graduate of Major Professional School of Danse of Thessalonikis’ Municipality.

Friday 19/05/2017 (open training group) 

• “The creative role of time in mental processes: The myth of Centaur Chiron”

Among the people who decide to go through psychotherapy there are a lot who come in asking for solutions and recipes declaring: “I don’t have time for me now, tell me something, a quick fix, I cannot concentrate on myself right now. There are those who need me more, my mother, my husband, my kids. I don’t have time to spend on my needs and wants”. There are others who are anxiously asking: “how many sessions would it take to solve my issues?” How many times do we manage to trap our progress, our growth, our wings opening using the excuse of space and time?

In the group we will approach the concept of space and time through the myth of the Centaur Chiron who lived with his wound and his pain and managed not only to heal himself but learned how to help and heal others.

Katerina Siampani, MSc Counseling Psychology, University of Sheffield, Gestalt Psychotherapist, Trained in Art-Therapy. Member of EAGT and of the Hellenic Association for Gestalt Therapy, accredited by the National Accreditation Centre for Continuing Vocational Training (EKEPIS). She has been working for many years at W.M.C.A. of Kalamaria (Thessaloniki, Greece) and elected in the Executive Board in W.M.C.A. of Greece. For the last five years she has been working at the Greek Association of Alzheimer Disease and Related Disorders, while she is working as psychotherapist. Since 2008 she has been collaborating with Psychotherapy & Training Center Gestalt Foundation as coordinator in training workshops.

Konstantinos Kostas, psychologist, social worker and Gestalt psychotherapist. Member of EAGT (European Association for Gestalt Therapy) and vice president of the Hellenic Association for Gestalt Psychotherapy (H.A.G.T.) and member of the Association of Social Workers of Greece. Gestalt Foundation graduate. Trainer trainee

Saturday 20/05/2017 (open training group) 

• “The pause and repetition in the continuum of my being”

In a musical piece the pauses works as a period of silence covering a certain time. The small pauses create a place for the music to breath; some of those close a phrase and open another one; while the longer pauses give the opportunity to other instruments and other voices to surface, creating a musical dialog.

With repetition music creates motifs and symmetry; it influences the audiences’ memory and promotes identification and familiarity. Usually repetition works as a bridge that leads to something new and eventually to a climax or an ending. Within the field of eternity and infinity I can understand space-time as a line. Each moment I am on that line of space-time and I expand in space and time. In my perpetual movement I take pauses active ones, heavy ones, absolute ones, and abrupt ones. I repeat what my memory combines with my senses, as the ascending course of a spiral that turns again and again on the same spot.

How can a pause not become an end; the repetition a constant coming back? How do I include these qualities in the space-time continuum and the coexistence with others?

Exarmenia Pappa, BA in Psychology (National Kapodistrian University of Athens), MSc Mental Health Studies, Gestalt Psychotherapist and Trainer, Member of EAGT and HAGT, PgCert Gestalt Body Process (Trained by James Kepner) Certificate in Performance Studies in Dance (Birkbeck College London). She runs a private practice in Athens, Greece. She facilitates groups and workshops that combine gestalt therapy with movement and dance, support groups for teachers in secondary education and educational workshops for gestalt therapy trainees. She is particularly interested in exploring movement, dance and somatics methods and applying them in her therapeutic work.