Creating Together and Coming Together
Gestalt Network Scotland
Welcome!
We are two Gestalt Therapists from Edinburgh, we trained with EGI between 2013-2017, and want to invite you to be part of a new network for gestalt therapists in Scotland. We hope you will join us in connecting, sharing passions, learning, debating and building new projects together.
Our initial aims include:
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Resourcing ourselves as continually evolving practitioners through cultivating connections across the Gestalt community in Scotland and beyond.
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Building a new container for the Gestalt community in Scotland that takes account of where we have been, and where we might want to go.
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Creating a space beyond formal training and professional body accreditation structures where Gestalt Therapists can build their networks, skills, confidence and professional identity.
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Nurturing the potential for a non-hierarchical community for Gestalt therapists of all levels of experience, training and status within other structures.
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Having fun together, being more of who we are and bringing the potential for transformation that Gestalt Therapy offers into life.
Ideas we have at this stage are:
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Hosting trainers from Scotland, the rest of UK and beyond, (e.g. special interest areas, couples therapy, working with young people). Themes will be guided by community demand.
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Developing a ‘postgrad’ mentoring programme – for practitioners to look more deeply into specific areas of interest relating to establishing your practice and professional identity.
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Hosting peer-led events where gestalt therapists share their knowledge and learning around specific themes (e.g. admin/finance, specific therapeutic issues, sharing a part of gestalt theory that you love!).
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Regular self-organising groups and meetings, e.g. reading and writing groups.
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Exploring the potential for creating a social enterprise and building a physical space which can be a home for us all and a place to offer services from.
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Developing an online presence where members can promote their work.
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Engaging with community organisations and other civic partners to bring gestalt out of the therapy room and into the world to meet the challenges of our times.
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Cultivating a rich, vibrant and diverse community of gestalt practitioners in Scotland.
These are by no means fixed – some will grow, some will die off, new ideas will be added as we develop as a community.
Keep reading to hear more from Gillian and Karen about their vision
Gillian's Hopes
I love the sense of affiliation that I often feel when meeting other Gestalt Therapists - the feeling of being on a shared journey and having a level of common understanding.
I yearn for more of that kind of connection in my life. Along with that yearning comes a wanting for a container to hold and cultivate these relationships - something which offers regularity of meeting, shared activity and learning, and space to inquire into who I am as a person and as a gestalt therapist. I’d like the container to have both enough structure to offer a sense of safety and shape, and enough open space to learn, develop and grow together organically.
At the heart of this, is my sense that it’s important and valuable to be part of something bigger. Something which has more meaning as a whole, than the total sum of the individual parts - a community.
In the community I’d like to deepen my embodied understanding of gestalt theory and link it with practice. I’d like to enrich my sense of what gestalt therapy is and why the approach is important. I’d like space to reflect on the role of gestalt in my own personal journey. All of these activities feel much more meaningful when shared with others.
Karen's Ideas
I’m interested in being part of a Gestalt community that is grounded in place. All of the zooming and other online opportunities the pandemic has stimulated has broadened our horizons greatly, and I am yearning for something more grounded, rooted and located in the HERE, not just the now.
Scotland has a long history of Gestalt practice, through EGI and its predecessor organisations and groups. I want to be a part of keeping this alive, vibrant and responsive and contributing to the wider community of which we are a part - located within the particularities of Scotland’s land, history, culture, politics, health services and civic society. What might we be able to contribute to our communities by coming together as a more local network?
And as Gillian talks about, I long for a place to explore, share and co-create with people who share my passion for therapy and have a Gestalt background. I’m excited about the potential for learning and creativity outside of formal qualification requirements and to engage in dialogue with a diversity of Gestalt practitioners and enjoy our uniquenesses and commonalities. I would love to create opportunities for ongoing training in Scotland so that we don’t all use up time, money and most importantly, the earth’s resources travelling far and wide. And, I’d love for us, Gestaltists in Scotland, to grow our own, nurture our talents, learn from and support each other.
I think we need each other and that Scotland needs us.
This is a bold vision! And we’d like to start it with a small step. We want to host a launch event this year and are inviting you to register your interest by signing up to our mailing list.