Why I Chose Post-Graduate Gestalt Training

After many years of working in community-based settings, I was ready to move into private practice. I'd had years of experience as a clinician, program developer, and supervisor—so some of my friends were surprised to hear that I was going into a post-graduate program. For me, it was a no-brainer.

While I had appreciated my graduate school education and filled many gaps of knowledge on my own, something was missing. I'd accumulated piles of therapy books, and had a keen ability to assess, empathize, and intervene. What I lacked was a thread that wove through my work to give it coherence. I knew I needed a richer knowledge base, more attuned and specific clinical supervision, a richer sense of my own blind spots—and a community of peers.

Choosing the Right Program

Initially, I was curious about traditional psychoanalytic training at another institute (not GAP)  where a close friend had trained. I already had a license, so I didn't need it for that reason — but I wanted to learn the original theory that had kick-started psychotherapy. However, when I attended my first evening at the institute, something fell flat. The syllabus looked fascinating, but I did not experience the vibrance and authentic curiosity I had known in Gestalt spaces. Luckily, I'd also applied to GAP’s Clinical Fellowship Program, which would start several weeks later.

When I recall my earliest days in training, I am brought back to a circle of peers in a large therapy room. There were deep couches, walls of books, and tall windows looking out onto the city. I felt a clear knowing that I was in a place for profound inquiry and growth. Our teacher guided us to connect to our present feelings and experience—an exercise we would repeat each time we met.

As clinicians learning Gestalt therapy, we engaged in all of it. This is the most unique and powerful aspect of the training. Whether through group exercises, engaging as a therapist or as a client, we learned how to do the work as we experienced its efficacy through our own personal growth and development.

Building Confidence Through Practice and Theory

Before I was trained in Gestalt therapy, I worked as a therapist for many years—reading widely in psychodynamic, trauma-based, and family therapies. But it was not until I grounded myself in Gestalt theory that I felt truly confident as a therapist. I was delighted to see my learning take shape with my first paying clients in my shared office. I now had a dependable, developmental, and humanistic approach to assess and treat my clients.

A fundamental principle that shaped my work is the concept of creative adjustment. Simply put, as humans, we creatively adjust when we must maneuver ourselves in an environment—childhood and ongoing—that impedes or does not meet our needs. Creative adjustment names what can be a painful or difficult process in a de-stigmatizing way. Holding this idea supported me to be more curious and open with the most difficult of presenting problems, and helped me encourage my clients' curiosity for parts of themselves for which they feel disdain or frustration.

Being With

A beloved Gestalt therapist told me that she chose Gestalt therapy because it was the only training she had experienced where she saw practitioners and teachers who modeled being with their clients. "Being with" could seem like a simple practice—as humans walking around in the world, we talk to others, we sit with others. Yet being with and talking to are very different things. Being with is the relational heart of Gestalt work, and we learn how to do this actively.

During classes, we break into groups, taking turns as the therapist and the client. As we work with our clients, a supervisor sits present—ready to answer questions or intervene when they notice us mis-attuning, or veering away from the client's active noticing of themselves and their process.

One of my teachers consistently noticed that I would edge up in my seat toward my client. "Sit back," he would say. Through this small noticing, I learned that my posture embodied my tendency to enter a bit too far into a client's experience. This was a core insight for me. As I sat back, I was able to feel steadier and more present—more able to be with and observe my client's process. It is only one of many insights from my Gestalt training that continue to support my practice thirteen years later. While receiving en vivo feedback in the moment can be difficult and scary, it is a rich and invaluable tool.

Support in Practice Development

When it was time for me to leave agency work and build my private practice, I benefited from the ongoing support of the Gestalt Associates for Psychotherapy community. From a friend who shared details about applying for an insurance panel, to a colleague who encouraged me to set a fee that represented my value—I felt guided through the process. I continued to have supervision groups and individual supervision with my teachers, and as I grew my practice, a consistent source of referrals.

My writing this post is testimony to my trust and belief in this program as a space for my own growth—and for many future practitioners.

If you're a clinician wondering whether post-graduate training is the right next step, I'd encourage you to trust that instinct. The thread I was missing—the one that finally wove my work into something coherent—I found here.

Learn more about GAP's Clinical Fellowship and training programs.

Written by Liza K. Blank, LCSW, graduate of the Gestalt Associates for Psychotherapy and Training Clinical Fellowship Program in NYC.