Gestalt is a style of therapy that’s focused on holism rather than pathology. It’s a way of life utilizing what could be thought of as a “somatic spirituality”—the connection between felt-senses in your body and the context in which those felt-senses arise. In Gestalt, we view emotions and their body-textures as sources of information, not pathology.

Everything is interconnected and shares in relationship: people, places, emotions, body textures / felt senses, values, priorities, aspirations… Gestalt is a way of looking at connections and holding the bigger picture. It’s not a narrowing to find the one right truth—but a truth that emerges from the complex context and web of connections and relationships. Our experience is constantly influenced by what we bring into focus and what the background and surrounding context hold out of focus. Everything has an impact; there is no “single” or “dual” causation.

We are born to make meaning of experiences and those experiences happen first through sensation in our bodies. However, when we dull our senses, dissociate, or block our awareness, we limit our experience of life. We do this to create a sense of safety, but it comes at a cost: when we leave the dangerous context, it’s incredibly hard to regain a full awareness.

The therapy session is a back and forth between me and you. It’s not an argument or debate; it’s not a “thinking through”. It’s a playful exchange between different beings showing up in different ways. In that difference, we explore new awareness into how you make meaning and experiment with that newness.

A Gestalt therapist doesn’t focus on “problem solving.” I trust that you can do that already, you just aren’t satisfied with what you’re finding. Instead, I am focused on your flow of energy and when you block your energy in ways that limit your options. I help you bring awareness to what is stuck, what is numb, what is hiding. We explore these themes to find how you get in your own ways and play with new ways of supporting yourself.

People come to therapy for change; you’re probably reading this wanting change for yourself. In Gestalt, we focus on choices—choices you aren’t even aware you’re making. If we can restore the power of your choices and help you become more radically aware of your choice patterns, we can help you experiment with new choices and new choice patterns.

An exercise has a “right” and “wrong” outcome. “Do this stretch so you feel more flexible.” But what happens if that stretch brings up more tension? Did you stretch wrong? Did the instructor teach you wrong? Was something in the tension wrong for the stretch? Experiments don’t have a “right” and “wrong.” Instead, experiments are ways of playing with your experience and meaning-making to try something new and to allow what is hiding to arise into your awareness. An exercise has a desired outcome; an experiment brings new experiences, information, and choices.

No, really. Yes, you read that right. Ok, sure, there are emotions we like and dislike… but that’s because we’ve learned these emotions in a context. Our heart can beat fast when we are anxious and when we are excited. Why do we prefer one fast heart beat over another? It’s the meaning we attach to the experience. Emotions, at their core, aren’t “good” or “bad”; they’re all data. In Gestalt, we playfully explore that data and help you grow more accustomed to being in dialogue with the emotions as sources of information.

I use what I call “Presence-Based Practice”, a process of radically shifting attention to what is present and alive in the moment of the appointment as it happens. Gestalt isn’t regimented. There isn’t a “manual” on what to do for a given diagnosis. I’m not that involved with pathology.

Gestalt is a process where my presence provides the container and support for you to look deeply at what you avoid and ignore–at what blocks your flow of energy and action. We explore where your development needs more support, more attention, and new awareness. Instead of pathologizing your struggles, we nurture and gently re-parent what wasn’t previously safe for you to tend to.

I was awarded a “Certification in Gestalt Therapy” by the Gestalt Institute of the Rockies. It’s an advanced training program for psychotherapists and involves over 200 hours of live training and plus additional hours in supervision for one-on-one training with a senior clinician. I am eternally grateful for the mixture of professional and personal development the program, instructors, and co-learners co-created.