Published by
Gestalt Global Corporation
Indexes for Gestalt!

Gstalt-L, An email discussion group devoted to Gestalt therapy and the community of its practitioners (www.g-gej.org/gstalt-l).
Gstalt-J, An email discussion group devoted to research on Gestalt therapy, theory and practice (www.g-gej.org/gstalt-j). Supported by the Gestalt Research Consortium (GRC) (www.g-gej.org/grc).
Gestalt Bookmarks, a place to begin researching the field of contemporary Gestalt therapy on the world wide web (www.g-gej.org/gestaltbookmarks).

Having attended the summer residential, not once, but nine times since 1987, I can certainly vouch for the value of the GATLA program. The warm, supportive environment provided by faculty allows for risk-taking and growth whether one is working as a group member, therapist or client. The faculty models authenticity, self-support, dialogue and contact making so that the trainees, new or old, can thus explore, for example, how they maintain contact with themselves and their peers. Trainees can also discover how, through characterological means, they inhibit or block contact, attending to their processes, the how, not the why.

What is truly fascinating about these programs is the wealth of cultures that are represented. This aptly demonstrates to the entire community the importance of the impact of the field. Participants may come from open societies or closed societies, thus carrying the background with which they enter the training. As Gestalt Therapy pays attention to this phenomenon it again allows for a richer understanding and acceptance of the participant without judgment or shame-inducing responses by the community at large. Though intense and at times emotionally exhausting, the summer residential offers rewards that last long past the program's end as we take what we've gained and apply the new knowledge or awareness in our personal and professional lives "back home".

The program does not really end each day when the final group has finished. As we all live together it is as if we've become a temporary family (bringing, I suppose, our unfinished business to this process, with whatever longings or gripes we still carry), where meals and breaks are shared and social as well as recreational opportunities are offered. What works well is that the participant is offered choices. One does not have to be involved in every activity, one can choose to eat on one's own or take off to one's room during a break or spend a free day in splendid isolation (provided, it would seem, that these activities are done with awareness). And, best of all, one is accepted no matter what diet he or she follows. Even better is the fact that faculty ensure that vegetarians (like myself) will be amply fed no matter where the residential is held, be it in France, Italy, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Finland, Denmark or Greece (places where I have attended the program). Another plus is that people share artistry from their own cultures, be it music (which is what I partake in since I
play guitar and sing) and dance (which I usually observe by tapping my two left feet). For those who cannot get enough theory during a typical training day there are always after dinner presentations, which again thankfully are optional.

The bottom line is, you come away from the program with a sense that you are unique and okay. As trainees, we are not attending the program to regurgitate whatever faculty presents to us but to see what fits for us and how we'd like to use the material or feedback offered in our personal life and in our work as therapists. In addition, faculty listen to trainees about program modification if need be, as trainees get to share verbally during the program and in writing after the program (as well as a follow-up six months later) what they experience as program strengths and weaknesses. This reinforces the fact that we are active and not passive participants.

What can best be described as a metamorphosis comes from the fact that the first time I ever traveled to Europe from the United States was for the purpose of attending an LA summer residential. Now, I have become a sort of
full-time European working as a therapist for the US Army in Germany (though soon to do the same in Italy).

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I wish to express deep gratitude to the faculty of GATLA for making my participation at their Annual European Summer Residential Gestalt Therapy Training Program possible. Since now I have been at four Summer Residentials and every time it meant a significant step in my personal and professional growth. The most important for me was my first time there, because it encouraged me to persevere in my decision to change career and become Gestalt Therapist.

I had just finished my first training in my own country, Slovenia, with deep doubts, as the trainer had kept repeating that only psychologists and physicians were entitled to practice gestalt therapy. (I finished studies in English and French language.) Thus I arrived at the Summer Residential held in Ardennes in Belgium in 1997 quite anxious that I might get the same discouragement. How positively surprised was I at the highly supportive atmosphere! Accustomed to stiff professional formalism reigning in my own country, I needed some time to realize that what mattered there was not what titles your name was 'adorned' with , but who you were as a human being and your desire and ability to learn and grow on the personal and professional levels.

The result of this highly stimulating experience is that I am fairly active in the Slovene Association for Gestalt Therapy and that I now work as a bereavement counsellor in the Slovene hospice. Together with Rudi, who also attended these Summer Residentials, we organized the continuation of training in Gestalt Therapy in Slovenia with trainers coming from different parts of the world, mainly from Great Britain and USA, and which still takes place. It would not have happened if I hadn't attended the first GATLA Summer Residential.
Long live GATLA!

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What is water?

In an old Sufi story, it is told that young fish swim to an old wise fish and ask him, "Please tell us, what is water?" "You are in it, it is all around you", he replies. "It can’t be that easy", they say in return, disappointed with the answer, and swim on.

As I reflect on having been a participant at 4 residential training programs in the 1990s, I know that it has stimulated deep learning for me. In intense 12 days, that often felt low key, I had gone through rich processes of personal and professional learning, which continued for years after the event. Sometimes it felt like masochism, when I had been shaken in my core beliefs, got lost in my self perpetuating spiral of self doubt, and yet, usually two years later I went back for more.

Similar to the young fish I often felt disappointed, and at the same time intrigued. Somehow I knew that I had been with people who knew something that I did not know. My question was not so clear and direct as the young fish’s. I didn’t even know that I had a question, was too busy trying to prove to myself and to others that I already knew. Vern Van De Riet gave me direct feedback: "you think you’ve got it, others belief you haven’t got it". This was a blow to my self image. I wanted to be seen as competent.

According to the patterns I had developed from early on, I tried to please to be accepted and affirmed. It didn’t work. When Bob Resnick told me, "You need to affirm yourself", I didn’t belief that it could be that easy. Frequently I got stuck in the spiral of wanting external affirmation, while pride often stopped me from acknowledging that I needed anything at all. After having been my therapist, I recall Zish Ziembinski saying to me, "It’s hard to give to you". It had been easier for me to receive from women, where I dared more to show my vulnerability. With men I felt competitive and less trusting. When my attempts to manipulate for support failed, I used it to prove that I couldn’t have it.

The most valuable aspect of my time at the Summer Residentials was the fact that I was trusted in my capacity to learn and to develop more self support. I was not rescued from feeling the full impact of my self created dramas. Nobody from the trainers and support team cushioned my fall. Yet I experienced them as compassionate to the degree that I was open for it, and they offered the greatest gift of all, being themselves, if I liked it or not. They showed me consistently an alternative to my trying to live up to internalized ‘shoulds’.

As I look at the notes that I took during the residentials, the main message for me was repeated in different ways: "just be like you are", "be here as you", "accept your needs". My dilemma at the time: How do I do that when the introjects that I carry don’t allow for my needs? When there is no room for what I want, and who I am has not been confirmed? Deep shame doesn’t allow me to acknowledge that fully. I get stuck in my self created straitjacket of what I think I should be. As I do this, I imagine and project a familiar painful response on to the environment: "Be yourself, but be it my way, and I am not going to tell you what this is". There seems no way out. Between me and others are my projections, my story about them.

In my life now, this self-created isolation through confluence has receded. I can spot my pattern sooner. I give myself and others permission to be different. The water of life is all around me, to be myself is my only realistic option. Shame, feeling competitive, and at times self rejecting is part of me, as well as the fact that I think it shouldn’t be.

It has been a rocky road at times, no smooth sailing. Yet the Summer Residentials have had a major impact on me, personally and professionally. In my work as a Gestalt therapist, I am more sensitive to the depth of my clients’ conditioning, I allow more time and have left behind ideas of quick fix and easy solutions. I focus more on taking friends with patterns rather than trying to change them. Personally, I like myself more, I am more aware of my tendencies, and more compassionate. I take more responsibility for what happens to me, cope better with disappointments and continue my learning journey with a loving and challenging partner.

The residentials have prepared me to be ready for the water of life in all its deliciousness of swimming in simply being.