Psychological counseling in the Gestalt approach - course RUB 185,904. from Smart, training 14 months, date December 4, 2023.

Expert at the Smart online institute

Gestalt therapist, family consultant, art therapist, Enneagram practitioner, NLP Coach-Master

1 module
History of the development of the Gestalt approach

As a result of training, students:

• get acquainted with the basic concepts and principles of Gestalt therapy;
• will gain knowledge about the founders of the Gestalt approach and their contribution to the development of psychotherapy;
• learn about the principles of professional training of Gestalt therapists in the Russian Federation, about the structure of the professional Gestalt community in the Russian Federation and abroad;
• will be able to broadcast the basic principles of Gestalt therapy in a popular form;
• learn to recognize the basic concepts of the Gestalt approach;
• master basic mindfulness skills for self-development;
• will consider the relationship of Gestalt therapy with other psychotherapeutic areas;
• learn in which areas the method is applied and what limitations it has;
• understand the essence of the Gestalt approach as a choice of profession and the values ​​of psychotherapeutic practice

2 module
Field theory in psychology and gestalt therapy

As a result of training, students:

• will consider the essence of the personality field in Gestalt therapy;
• will analyze Malcolm Parlett’s five principles, which modern psychotherapists rely on in their work;
• will master the options for interaction between the field and the organism/environment;
• enrich their skills in working with clients by applying field theory
• will acquire the skill of understanding and recognizing an object as part of a large and complex system, context;
• learn to distribute energy and strength in a therapeutic session based on field theory;
• master a holistic way of understanding reality;
• will be able to apply field theory in constructing the therapeutic process.

3 module
Contact theory in Gestalt therapy

• As a result of training, students:
• get an idea of ​​contact in Gestalt therapy;
• become familiar with the contact cycle and its phases;
• learn about the mechanisms of contact interruption;
• will analyze practical cases with various options for interrupting contact.
• will work with contact interruption mechanisms;
• learn to restore self-regulation through exercises;
• learn to recognize mechanisms for interrupting contact;
• will be able to distinguish contact phases for an effective therapy process.

4 module
SELF theory in Gestalt therapy

As a result of training, students:

• gain an understanding of the theory and functions of SELF;
• learn about resistance in the Gestalt approach and the loss of ego function;
• become familiar with the main options for working with resistance;
• will analyze cases of working with client resistance to the therapy process 
• will be able to make assumptions about the dynamics of the Self-client, as well as the leading mechanisms for interrupting contact;
• will be able to recognize the basic mechanisms of contact interruption at work;
• will master basic mindfulness skills for self-development and facing reality.

5 module
Dialogical basis of therapeutic relationships in Gestalt therapy

As a result of training, students:

• get acquainted with the philosophical tradition of Martin Buber;
• learn about the qualitative characteristics of dialogic relationships;
• learn about the concepts of “I”, “It”, “You”, “This”, “Other” as part of the analysis of relationships;
• will develop the ability of included presence in therapy.
• improve the ability to conduct dialogue within the therapeutic relationship;
• learn to build a therapeutic conversation;
• will be able to correlate therapeutic tasks and therapeutic techniques depending on the client’s request;
• will master the essence of the therapist’s dialogical position.

6 module
Tactics and strategies for working as a Gestalt therapist

As a result of training, students:

• get acquainted with the strategy of the Gestalt therapist at the border of contact and with the internal phenomenology of the client;
• consider the structure and dynamics of the therapeutic session;
• will be able to use tactics to work with an already existing split within the client, when one part of him unsuccessfully tries to change the other;
• will be able to have the skills to reflect on their own mental activity within the framework of the basic philosophical principles of Gestalt.
• will receive individual experience in applying Gestalt therapy techniques in practice;
• learn about the balance of support and frustration in Gestalt therapy;
• will use work techniques in the psychotherapeutic process;
• will begin to work with the client’s polarities.

7 module
Supervision in Gestalt therapy and ethical problems of psychotherapeutic practice

As a result of training, students:

• learn about the theoretical foundations of supervision;
• become familiar with the Psychologist's Code of Ethics;
• consider types of supervision;
• will be able to receive supervision.
• will be able to follow professional ethics and basic ethical principles of Gestalt therapy;
• will learn to differentiate the characteristics of relationships between participants in the supervisory process;
• note the main areas of application of supervision and the progress of its implementation;
• They will learn to take supervision and note its features depending on the case.

8 module
Phenomena of the body, physicality in Gestalt therapy

As a result of training, students:

• get acquainted with models of approaches to bodily and mental phenomena in psychotherapy and gestalt therapy;
• learn about the options for the manifestation of the bodily process and the formation of the bodily structure;
• will gain a basic understanding of working with physicality;
• learn to connect bodily processes and awareness.
• will gain the skill of working as a therapist with bodily practices;
• will be able to master bodily methods of influence in therapeutic contact;
• will master therapeutic strategies for working with physicality in Gestalt therapy (breathing, space, voice, touch);
• will develop therapeutic skills in working with bodily processes.

9 module
Basics of psychosomatics in Gestalt therapy

As a result of training, students:

• gain a basic understanding of the medical and therapeutic approach to the client's symptoms;
• master the concept of health and illness in Gestalt therapy (norms and pathologies);
• will master the features of diagnosing a client with a psychosomatic request;
• will consider clinical cases of working with psychosomatic requests.
• will develop the skill of building a client-therapeutic alliance with a client to work with a symptom;
• regulate practical work with the client’s symptom based on the principles of the work of a Gestalt therapist;
• will form an idea of ​​working with a symptom as a form of contact/interruption of contact.

10 module
Gestalt therapy in clinical practice

As a result of training, students:

• will gain knowledge about the principles of clinical diagnostics in the Gestalt approach;
• learn about the origin of neurosis;
• will consider the dynamic concept of personality in the Gestalt approach;
• will analyze clinical cases from practice.
• will master the skill of formulating and testing therapeutic hypotheses with different types of clients;
• learn to conduct a diagnostic interview and create a therapeutic contact in clinical practice;
• gain an understanding of the psychotherapist’s strategies for working with different types of clients;
• will be able to build hypotheses about working with a client within the framework of the Gestalt approach.

11 module
Working with crises and traumas in the Gestalt approach

As a result of training, students:

• learn to distinguish between crises and trauma;
• will master therapeutic models of working with crises and traumas;
• get acquainted with the modern theory of trauma therapy, gain a holistic resource experience in healing personal traumas;
• will be able to maintain a therapeutic position in working with various manifestations of traumatic disorders and injuries;
• will learn to conduct diagnostics, determine the tactics and form of therapeutic interventions;
• will be able to work with PTSD;
• will master the features of age-related, neurotic, traumatic and existential crises;
• learn to diagnose clients’ conditions;
• will master the skills of future therapists to prevent their own burnout;
• will analyze cases on working with crises and traumas.

12 module
Gestalt approach in therapeutic work with metaphors, images, dreams

As a result of training, students:

• get acquainted with metaphor as an expressive means of language and human experience;
• learn about the role of the client’s fantasies and visual images in the therapeutic session;
• will receive tools for working in an art therapeutic approach;
• will analyze cases using art therapeutic methods.
• will be able to apply art therapeutic techniques in the work of a practicing psychologist;
• will learn to choose from the variability of the work of a Gestalt therapist those methods that can reflect the client’s problems;
• will be able to apply methods of therapeutic work with dreams.

13 module
Working with a group in the Gestalt approach

As a result of training, students:

• learn to work with organizations;
• gain insight into couple relationships and family systems;
• learn to work in the family system;
• use the acquired knowledge to form their private practice;
• learn how a Gestalt therapist can work with organizations;
• will learn to formulate a request and maintain the boundaries of the therapist’s work in a child-parent couple;
• learn the basics of running groups (therapeutic, thematic);
• will analyze clinical cases of working with couples or families.