Gestalt Institute of Toronto · The Gestalt Institute of Toronto is one of the oldest established psychotherapy training schools in Canada. We were established in 1973 as a center

Gestalt Institute of Toronto2019-2020 Training Catalogue

2

Many people are not aware that the Gestalt Institute of Toronto is the grandchild of Fritz Perl’s Canadian dream of establishing a Gestalt community in a place called Lake Cowichan in British Columbia. Our founder Harvey Freedman was intended to be the director of that center called The Gestalt Institute of Canada, but after Fritz’ death in 1970, Harvey returned to Toronto to bring the dream here, establishing the Gestalt Institute of Toronto in 1973 with Jorge Rosner.

However it is only in recent years that our community took our place inside the lineage in North, Central and South America and Europe. It is only natural that we would begin to bring in some of the leading international trainers to link our students and alumni to the abundance of growth in Gestalt practice in arenas never dreamed of by Fritz. This year our invited leaders are Margherita Spagnuolo Lobb, Deborah Plummer, Michael Clemmens, Gianni Francesetti, and Ruella Frank.

We begin the year honoring the growing awareness of our role as a psychotherapeutic community as transformational change agents in an increasingly diverse world. Gestalt has from its inception contained within it the key to transforming reaction into curiosity, and curiosity into empathy and attunement. Deborah Plummer, international trainer in human diversity, who was keynote speaker at the 2018 AAGT Conference, will lead us in a two day workshop on the healing power of cross-racial and cross-cultural intimate friendships. Elder Shirley Gillis-Kendall and Char Avalos, GIT graduate, continue to wake up our training therapists to the history of First Nations in Canada and the impact of colonialism, genocide and intergenerational trauma.

In a year of increasing responsibility as a psychotherapy training institute we have expanded our administrative staff. Carolina is now Administrative Director and we are delighted to introduce to you our new Executive Director, Natasha Teoli. All of us rely heavily on the hub of the institute - our Office Manager Scarlett Peterson

WELCOME TO THE GIT

A MESSAGE FROM THE ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTOR AND THE DIRECTOR OF TRAINING

3

whom most of you have met or spoken with, and our newest addition, Administrative Assistant, Zizi Putra. Our continued vitality is due to those you never see: our Board of Directors, our donors and our student volunteers. Our reason for being is you, our students and seekers, If you get a chance to check the website you will see there our core vision and the values that drive that vision. We are proud to be part of a strong faculty which includes Tony Greco, Luisa de Amaral and Lauren Nancarrow Clarke. Together we give you our commitment to a shared vision and values. Finally, we send heartfelt congratulations to the 2018-19 new graduates RP(Qualifying).

Hope to see you all at the GIT!

WELCOME TO THE GITW

ELCO

ME TO

THE G

IT

Jay TropianskaiaDirector of Training

Carolina EdwardsAdministrative Director

4

The Gestalt Institute of Toronto is one of the oldest established psychotherapy training schools in Canada. We were established in 1973 as a center for some of the leading Gestalt practitioners of the day, including Lore Perls and Isadore From. In addition to the training of psychotherapists we have a tradition of providing one of the most challenging levels of personal growth and development workshops and ongoing groups. Our commitment to experiential learning means that our graduates have embodied the theory and approach in their lives as well as their work. Over and over we hear from our students and participants: I have never connected more deeply to others, I now can be myself within a group, or I have found my honest voice…

In June 2014 we became the first psychotherapy training institute in Ontario to be recognized by the newly established College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO) as addressing all of the required criteria for training. We are also certified as a designated learning institute (DLI) which provides the opportunity for international students to apply for a study visa to train with us. The GIT continues to hold its own on the international

scale with the quality of training as well as its association with leading international Gestalt trainers. Gestalt therapy today is vital and expanding throughout Europe, Asia and the Americas with schools in Italy, Great Britain, France, Germany, Scandinavia, Tibet, China, Russia, Central and South America as well as Canada and the USA. The GIT is part of a growing international family committed to the leading edge in humanistic psychotherapy training based in neuroscience and quality based research, dedicated to the movement from behavioural and cognitive focus to experiential, relational, embodied and field approach. Our students come from backgrounds as varied as the arts and information technology, education, occupational therapy, social work, bodywork and yoga. Some have always known that they flourished in the experiential approach or they seek to balance their academic strengths with embodied knowledge. The Gestalt psychotherapist brings their whole self into a variety of settings, in private practice as well as institutional settings working with a range of human suffering including psychopathology and addictions.

WELCOME TO THE GIT

The Gestalt Institute of Toronto

5

acceptance leads to greater acceptance of the other, to a willingness to make mistakes in the presence of others and to the awareness that we are each an implicit part of everything that occurs in our shared reality and therefore any change in pattern of one person affects the entire group.

TRAINING PROGRAMSTH

E TRAIN

ING

PROG

RAM

S

The Five Year Training Program

The Gestalt Training Program consists of five years of part-time study on evenings and weekends. The program is scheduled between the months of September and April, followed by a five-day residential in a country setting early in May for Years One, Two and Three, and in June for Year Four and the One-Year Training for Professionals group.

The first two years of The Five Year Training Program may be taken for intensive personal growth for students not intending to go forward into the Professional Development Training of Years Three, Four and Five, which are geared to becoming a Registered Psychotherapist. Years One and Two, or equivalent, are prerequisite training for entrance to Year Three through Five.

The Gestalt Institute of Toronto’s training programs continue to be committed to experiential and experimental learning within group process, an approach that has been our trademark since 1973. Real change is possible in a diverse group coming together to support each other and the process. We are committed to shared agreements to speak the language of responsibility, to the principle that self-

6

Year One is a year unlike any other where a return to creativity and spontaneity are encouraged through experiential learning within a supportive, diverse and dynamic group. The emphasis is on working within the established framework of Gestalt theory as it is applied to one’s personal growth and life goals within and outside of the group. The group is a living laboratory in which to explore present-based awareness of yourself in relation to others. Students can expect to connect with others at the deepest level. Learning acquired in Year One form the foundation of Gestalt therapy practice as developed across the five years

Learning outcomes include:• Reclaim spontaneity—learn the difference between risk-taking and recklessness • Find language to identify and express your own process in relation to others• Awaken body awareness as a first step to embodied relationality• Discover the “how” of who you are – your phenomenology • Explore who you are at the boundary of experience

• Identify difficult behaviour as a function of your creative adjustment • Recognize the importance of the group and its context in your own evolution• Confront fear of intimacy and gain confidence in interpersonal skills

Students are expected to complete:• Oral and Written Exams• A Reflective Journal as an ongoing personal exploration of theory as learned in the classroom• For students intending to continue to Year Three it is recommended to begin personal therapy with a Gestalt psychotherapist or student therapist, to fulfill the required 30 hours of personal therapy by the end of Year Two.

TRAINING PROGRAMS

YEAR ONE — GESTALT APPROACH TOPERSONAL GROWTH

7

This year builds upon the foundational work of Year One as group members are challenged to apply embodied self-awareness to include awareness of the other. The group process becomes more figural, including awareness of and dissolving any fixed roles within the group. Students will learn to develop curiosity in their own patterns as well as in another’s difference, to understand and explore their responses to the behaviour of group members (which we understand as creative adjustments based in desire to belong) and to deepen their use of the group as a support for ongoing growth. Competencies that are key in Year Two are:• Integration of Gestalt theory of human psychological

functioning and development• Integration of awareness of self in relation to one’s

role as group member and trainee• Integration of knowledge of human and cultural

diversity in relation to other group members• Use of effective communication — access genuine

curiosity and interest in one’s own responses to another’s approach and style

• Build and maintain effective relationships• Address emerging conflicts and differences with

perspective, self-awareness and respect, use of I-Thou and Here and Now

• Discover language for internal experience in order to create rapport with the other

• Develop ability to take and give feedback• Include differences in interactions with others• Achieve successful resolution of authority issues• Maintain self-care and level of health and manage

energy during training weekends• Begin to access and apply a range of relevant

professional literature

Students are expected to complete:• Oral and written assignments• Students intending to apply to Year Three will need thirty hours of personal therapy with a Gestalt psychotherapist by the end of Year Two Successful completion of Year Two includes academic, attendance, and interpersonal assessment, leading to readiness to begin Year Three.

TRAINING PROGRAMS

YEAR TWO — INTRODUCTION TOFIELD DYNAMICS

8

This year is where students learn to experiment with the safe and effective use of themselves in deep phenomenologically based dialog with one another, as well as supervised practice with students in Years One and Two. In this way students begin to experience themselves at the beginning of therapist training – applying professional ethics and boundaries to their relations with students in earlier training years, as well as with peers in their own year. As co-leaders assisting faculty, students begin to learn the meaning of process led groups and expand their creativity through workshop creation and developing skills in the Gestalt experiment.

Competencies in Year Three include:• Integration of awareness of self in relation to

professional role• Develop safe and effective use of self in the

therapeutic relationship• Learn to bracket assumptions and become aware of

bias to assume non-judgmental stance• Maintain appropriate professional boundaries with

Year One and Two students and coleaders

• Adapting the therapist’s approach within a culturally diverse group

• Demonstrate awareness of the impact of context and the presence of the therapist and the co-leader on process

• Developing effective skills in observation of self, the client and process

• Employing empathy, respect and authenticity• Maintenance of self-care and level of health

necessary for responsible therapy and group membership

Students are expected to complete:• Oral and written assignments• 188 hours of experiential and didactic teaching• 100 additional hours of supervised leadership • Brief live therapy examinations• Total of fifty hours of personal therapy with a Gestalt psychotherapist by the end of Year Three

Application from Year Three to Year Four is by group interview held in June of each year.

TRAINING PROGRAMS

YEAR THREE — USE OF SELF IN EMBODIED RELATIONAL PRACTICE

9

Students in Year Four are trained academically and experientially in the fundamentals of therapy practice and a range of diverse clinical applications of the work including Gestalt applied theory of clinical application of phenomenology, Gestalt approach to change, field theory and embodied relationality is more deeply explored. Students learn a broader range of considerations that are applicable to all psychotherapy including safe and effective use of self and principles pertaining to transference, counter transference and self-disclosure. Students are supported in the principles and practice of therapy under supervision, and receive practical training on how to setup and maintain a practice,

Students are approved to see clients under supervision by November of Year Four and obtain liability insurance as well as a supervisor. Membership in the Student Clinic provides clients for new therapists, and students create their own client base as well. The fourth year program also includes clinical group supervision.

All competencies are now applied to the practice of psychotherapy with particular emphasis on:• Exploration of the impact of personal bias and

experience to the therapy relationship• Applying personal experience and embodied

relational approach to safe and effective use of self• Learning how the phenomenological approach

supports therapist work with issues of multiculturalism, diversity and power dynamics

• Learning to apply the ARK principle (M. Lobb) - aesthetic, relational and knowledge

• Obtaining clinical supervision and consultation• Establishing and maintaining an effective therapeutic

relationship• Offering psychotherapy to clients and maintain a

professional frame for therapy

Students are expected to complete • Oral and written assignments• Professional Practicum• 166 hours of experiential and didactic learning • 20 hours of clinical group supervision

TRAINING PROGRAMS

YEAR FOUR — TRAINING AND SUPERVISION IN GESTALT THERAPY

10

Year Five is a support year for therapists-in-training to complete their hours and supervision requirements for writing their final clinical paper to prepare for graduation in addition to meeting requirements to apply for membership in CRPO. Once students have substantially completed the requirements for graduation from the GIT, they may apply for RP (Qualifying) status with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO).

Year Five Program includes:• Five Seminars on advanced approaches by international leaders and senior faculty • Monthly reading group, video and discussion sessions on current issues in psychotherapy• Ongoing direct client hours under supervision• 48 hours of didactic and experiential learning• 20 hours of clinical group supervision

Year Five students are welcome to continue on as members of the Gestalt Student Clinic until they have reached RP(Qualifying) status.

Graduation and Practice

By Year Five students have developed their own therapy practice as Supervised Student Therapists and may be ready to apply for RP (Qualifying) status midway through the training year. In this way there is no interruption of their practice following their graduation. Our graduates work in a variety of settings from running successful psychotherapy practices, to working in clinics, hospitals and schools.

Graduation from The Five Year Training Program requires completion of all academic requirements, 30 hours of direct one-on-one or dyadic supervision with an approved supervisor, a minimum of 150 direct client hours, and the acceptance of an extensive clinical paper. Graduation takes place in June or December of each calendar year. Individuals successfully meeting all requirements receive a Diploma of Completion of The Five Year Training Program in Gestalt Psychotherapy.

TRAINING PROGRAMS

YEAR FIVE — ADVANCED GESTALTPSYCHOTHERAPY TRAINING

11

The May Five-Day Residential Training takes place in a country setting outside of Toronto. The residential is a requirement for all students at the end of Year One, Two, Three and Four in order to complete their year.

The June Five-Day Residential Training Program completes the requirements for Year Four and the One-Year Training Program for Professionals.

Five-Day Residential for Training ProgramsA fee of $620 for 2019-2020 training year includes accommodation and all meals. The residential fee is separate from tuition fees.Travel arrangements are the responsibility of the individual.

Year One — Gestalt Approach to Personal Growth• $4,500*

Year Two — Introduction to Field Dynamics• $4,500*

Year Three — Use of Self in Embodied Relational Practice• $4,500*

Year Four — Training and Supervision in Gestalt Practice• $4,500*

Year Five — Advanced Gestalt Psychotherapy Training• $2,400*

*$100 administration fee is added if paid by instalments.

GIT Tuition fees qualify to be claimed as a non-refundable tax credit with Revenue Canada.

.

TRAINING PROGRAMS

MAY AND JUNE FIVE-DAYRESIDENTIAL TRAINING

TUITION FEE SCHEDULE FOR 2020

12

For professionals seeking to deepen their experience of personal work within a training community, this is a year of didactic and experiential exploration of Gestalt therapy’s aesthetic, relational and embodied approach. The format is identical to Year One of our intensive training program, except that the weekly meetings are daytime sessions held on Friday mornings and the course is enhanced to include the supervision needs and professional sharing of participants.

Gestalt therapy has been called a “right brain-left brain” approach in that practitioners are trained to move fluidly between their embodied knowing and their cognitive skills, resulting in creative interventions that are never the same in any two meetings. This keeps the therapist alive and constantly changing to meet the client. Practitioners from other disciplines can learn to bring these “Gestalt moments” into their work, leading to greater rejuvenation inside clinical practice.

Participants will receive a certificate of completion of the One Year Training for Professionals Program which represents 180 continuing education hours. Successful completion of the One Year Program is considered equivalent to Year One of the Five Year Training Program. Therefore graduates of this program are eligible to apply to Year Two of the CRPO recognized Five Year Training Program.

In addition to learning outcomes of Year One of the Five Year Program, this program highlights the following learning outcomes: • Applying multiple layers of awareness from

embodied to field awareness in a variety of clinical contexts

• Working relationally• Working in the present moment• Gestalt as the clinical application of

Phenomenology

TRAINING PROGRAMS

One Year Training Programfor Professionals

13

• Working with embodiment• Learning to be field sensitive• Working with forms of contact• Adapting the experimental attitude• Practicing and experiencing Hot Seat• Finding support in the practice• Understanding the difference between self-

disclosure and self inclusion in order to apply Safe and Effective Use of Self

The program concludes with a five day intensive including experience of Gestalt modalities such as encounter, role play, movement and art in a natural setting.

Continuing Education (CE): 180 hours

Course Schedule: 20 Friday mornings between October 4, 2019 and May 29, 2020, seven weekends and Residential June 2 – 7, 2020

Tuition Fee: $4,500 plus residential feeFive-Day June Residential fee of $620 includes accommodation and all meals.Travel arrangements are the responsibility of the individual.

Tuition Fee can be used as a non-refundable tax credit.

TRAINING PROGRAMS

14 CONTINUING EDUCATION

GESTALT FOR SUPERVISORS

This one day seminar is designed for clinical supervisors who wish to include the relational and phenomenological approach in their supervision work, as well as for trained Gestalt supervisors

who wish to continue to upgrade their supervision skills. New topics that will be covered include:• the importance of tracking what the supervisor

knows as a key to integration • Recognition as the key ethic of supervision • application of Margherita Lobb’s ARK approach to

each supervision session• the use of self in the role of supervision in the

diagnostic process • new light on parallel process • practice supervision session for integration of

skills and peer feedback

Individual issues of interest will be available as time permits.

Instructor: Jay Tropianskaia, RP, Senior FacultyDate: Monday February 10, 2020 , 10am – 5:00pm Fee: $225Early Bird Rate: $195 (register by January 16)Continuing Education (CE): 6 hours

Participants will receive a certificate of continuing education hours.

WORKING WITH COUPLES

For registered psychotherapists who have graduated from the GIT Training Program or have equivalent training and are ready to work with couples.

Gestalt Therapy is uniquely suited to couples work with its emphasis on co-creation and its foundational belief that I can only know myself through the other. However working with couples can be challenging for beginning therapists where the focus has been on the inter-relationship between the therapist and the client. For a couple it is recognizing and supporting the co-creation of their mutual recognition that is of interest to the therapist. To be able to do this a therapist must accept that each member of the relationship is a gift of growth for the other.

This four session workshop offers experiential, applied and theoretical support for those therapists who feel called to working with couples.

Instructor: Jay Tropianskaia, RP. Senior FacultyDates and Time: Four Friday mornings April 3, 17, 24, May 1, 2020, 9:30am-12:00 pmFee: $425. Early Bird Rate: $375 (register by March 6)Continuing Education (CE): 10 hours


CO

NTIN

UIN

G ED

UC

ATION

15CONTINUING EDUCATION


THE GUILTY HEALER: ONE DAY SEMINAR What is enough in caring for another? Where is the place for the anger and resentment that arises in the caregiver, and what to do with the

guilt that accompanies it? These are the unanswered challenges inside caring for others, whether in a moment of listening to a friend when we are already tired, or in the therapy office when a client’s agitation or coldness impacts our energy, or in the dynamics of love and hate in long term committed care to a partner or parent. Margherita Spagnuolo Lobb speaks about “the ethics of fallibility” as our need to integrate compassion to ourselves with acceptance of our own limitations. In an article dedicated to the work of relational psychoanalyst Donna Orange, Margherita writes: “if there is not a goal to be achieved, but a presence to fulfill, can we accept that we are not perfect?”

In this one day seminar we will dig deeply into our perfectionism and our humanity, to find the power of fallible presence in the healing relationship.

Instructor: Jay Tropianskaia, Senior FacultyDate and Time: Monday December 2, 2019, 10:00am-5:00pmFee: $225Early Bird Rate: $195 (register by November 1, 2019)Continuing Education (CE): 6 hours


Instructor: Qi ShanDate: Seven Wednesdays November 6, 13,20, 27, December 4, 11, 18, 2019, 10:00am-12:30pmFee: $ 450Student or GIT Graduate Discount: $ 395Continuing Education (CE): 17.5 hours


17CONTINUING EDUCATION

EMBODIED DIALOGUE

Qi Shan returns to share her passion with body process as a support for dialogue. Shan writes: “The body is a connection between our past

and our future and can only stay in the here and now. By exploring body’s expression and its narrative, our presence becomes more clear, we vibrate, our response to the world become less stuck and more playful.”

This workshop is designed and is appropriate for all professionals who seek to deepen their understanding and experience of embodied therapy — including: counsellors, social workers, psychologists, physicians, nurses, art and music therapists. Senior students in the Gestalt Institute training program or its equivalent are also welcome. Class size is limited to 12 participants

Qi Shan is a GIT graduate, a graduate of the Developmental Somatic Psychotherapy Program in New York, and has completed training in somatic experiencing, psychodrama, and sensory awareness. She leads ongoing

groups in the Chinese community in Toronto. Before coming to Canada, she was the project manager at Shanghai Social Worker Association and lectured widely across China.


ANNUAL JUNE RESIDENTIAL

This five-day residential program is led by the GIT Faculty. Participants will engage in individual and group sessions and experience a variety

of creative modalities. Alumni, as well as individuals with Gestalt therapy or equivalent group experience, who are interested in exploring an in-depth Gestalt approach are invited to apply to attend the June residential. An excellent opportunity for those who wish to renew their connection with the creativity of Gestalt and want an intensive personal change process. You will join with GIT students who are completing their training year.

Instructors: Faculty of the GITDates: June 2 - 7, 2020Fee: $1,675 (program, accommodation and meals)

INTERN

ATION

AL TRAIN

ERS

DEBORAH PLUMMER - TWO DAY WORKSHOP with an international leader in the field of diversity

Advancing Inclusion: Turning Us and Them into We September 26, 2019

Achieving Racial Equity One Friend at a TimeSeptember 27, 2019

With diversity in Toronto predicted to reach 70% and the news media indicating an increase in intolerance in our country, how has this influenced our group identity as “welcoming” Canadians? Amidst an increased awareness of race, gender, and immigration issues, the publication of Truth and Reconciliation, growing movements such as the BlackLives Matter, #MeToo and MMIW, deepening one’s self-awareness becomes a critical element in order to increase respect for difference. As health care practitioners in troubled times, we often stand as a bridge between belonging and otherness.

INTERNATIONAL TRAINERS 19

Debbie asks us to accept our critical importance to the inclusion effort, accept our role as transformational change agents, and confront our own need for experience and skills within our multiple and intersecting identities. BiographyDeborah L. Plummer, PhD, is a psychologist and nationally recognized diversity thought leader. As Chief Diversity Officer at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and UMass Memorial Health Care, she shapes and leads the academic health sciences center’s embrace of diversity as fundamental to its institutional excellence. She is also a Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Quantitative Health Sciences. She is the author of several books including Advancing Inclusion: A Guide for Effective Diversity Council and editor of the Handbook of Diversity Management (Rowman and Littlefield).

Dates and Time: September 26 & 27, 2019. 10am-4pm Fee: $425Early Bird Rate: $350 (before August 28)Continuing Education: 12 hoursParticipants will receive a certificate of CE hours.

Biography Michael Craig Clemmens, PhD, is a psychologist and trainer in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is a faculty member of the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland and teaches at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California. Michael is the author of Getting Beyond Sobriety, the editor of Embodied Relational Gestalt: Theory and Applications and numerous articles on Gestalt therapy, body process, and addiction.

Dates & Time: Thursday November 14 & Friday November 15, 2019 10:00am - 5:00pm Fee: $450GIT Students and GIT Graduate Rate: $ 395Continuing Education (CE): 12 hoursParticipants will receive a certificate of continuing education hours

INTERNATIONAL TRAINERS20

BODY STRUCTURE FROM GESTALT PRESPECTIVE

Patterns of our physical embodiment are revealed and expressed in our thinking, feeling, and lived histories. They are shaped through our interactions with the world, the places

and spaces we inhabit, developmental contexts, and relational others. As body or character structure, these patterns become relatively fixed modes of being through which we both express and limit our evolving self and our narrative. From a Gestalt perspective, these structures are creative adjustments that can be attended to and explored in the novelty of the present moment. By doing this we can support the expansion of awareness, embodiment, and possibilities for individual and collective growth and change. In this workshop we will explore these structures (including our own) through embodied experiences of place and space, world/other, and energetic and physical heart space.

PANIC ATTACKS

A long awaited chance for students and psychotherapists to spend a day with one of the leading international leaders on the growing edge of Gestalt and phenomenology. Gianni has written, researched and lectured on new

Gestalt approaches to psychopathology, depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, trauma and autism, He is deeply human and inspiring, connecting the beauty of his embodied relational therapy demonstrations with deep philosophical, mythological and scientific wisdom. Join him in exploring his groundbreaking work on Panic Attacks as acute attacks of solitude. Students who have read his books and worked with him in international conferences will want to sign up early for this seminar.

BiographyGianni Francesetti is a psychologist, Gestalt therapist and psychiatrist. He trained in Psychotherapy at the Venice centre of the Istituto di Gestalt HCC. He has carried out research work in the field of psychosomatic medicine and stress, working with French neurobiologist Henri Laborit, and has specialized in Chronobiology at Paris University. Previously a trainer in Ericksonian hypnosis and neuro-linguistic programming, he is now an invited international Gestalt therapy trainer at the Istituto di Gestalt HCC Italy. He is the curator and co-author of the book Panic Attacks and Postmodernity, co-curator and co-author of the books: Absence is the Bridge Between Us - Gestalt Therapy Perspective on Depressive Disorders and Gestalt Therapy in Clinical Practice. His interests currently lie in the fields of clinics and psychopathology.

Date and Time: Wednesday January 15, 10:00am to 5:00pmFee: $240Early Bird Fee: $195 (register before December 12)Continuing Education: 6 hoursParticipants will receive a certificate CE hours

21INTERNATIONAL TRAINERS

CHILD PARENT SOMATIC PSYCHOTHERAPY INTERNATIONAL TRAINING PROGRAM

Ruella Frank is continuing her new groundbreaking Child-Parent Somatic Psychotherapy International Training Program at the GIT,

a four module program which will complete in June 2020.Teaching practitioners to intervene at the earliest phases of social development through an understanding of movement. Using a movement oriented approach to analyze and treat the child parent developing relationship, the CPSP program explores the subtle yet profound movement exchanges that shape and underlie our earliest patterns of attaching and demonstrates how specific movement experiences become self and relation experiences and vice versa. Of interest to people of all backgrounds, the CPSP training program will enhance your perception of human movement by revealing how

INTERNATIONAL TRAINERS22

nonverbal patterns developed in the relationship with significant others become the implicit core of adult functioning.

Level Two is open to those participants who have completed Level One Training in 2019.

Level TwoDates and Times: January 10 – 12 and June 19 – 21, 2020Fee: $ 850 CAD / $ 700 USDContinuing Education (CE): 24 hours


Biography Ruella Frank, PhD, founder and director of The Center for Somatic Studies, brings a lifetime of exploration of early infant movements and their relationship to the adult, which has influenced psychotherapeutic approaches throughout the world. She is author of books and articles introducing her embodied, relational and development approach including Body Of Awareness (2001, Gestalt Press). Ruella is introducing this new groundbreaking program in partnership with the Gestalt Institute of Toronto which welcomes her as an ongoing guest faculty.

PERSON

AL DEVELO

PMEN

T WO

RKSHO

PS23

In Gestalt the meeting between you and me is called “dialogue” which means:• to listen to the intentionality of the other through the

how not the what of communication• to develop curiosity in the other through curiosity in

one’s own reactions and responses • to ask questions that originate in our genuine honesty

so as to not alienate the other through re-traumatizing or shaming

• to have fun together by being in the here and now

Gestalt therapy is a conversation that comes close to “high play” as group members explore their capacity to co-create the “unknown next step” out of the shared present moment. In this way it is a model for good relationship and for returning to us all the spontaneity we have lost when children.Join a group of strangers in an experiment of deep connection.

Leaders: Jay Tropianskaia, RP, Senior Faculty, Carolina Edwards, RP, Senior Faculty, Luisa de Amaral, RP, FacultyDates and Times: Jan 14, 21, 28, Feb 4, 11, 25, Mar 3, 10, 17 7:00-9:00pmFee: $ 425Early Bird Fee: $ 375 (register by December 12, 2019)

REALLY MEET ONE ANOTHER - THE POWER OF PROCESS

Over the years we have heard these same remarks from Gestalt group participants: In the group I felt seen for the first time, I found the meaning of intimacy with others, I have really met like-

minded people, I feel present with others without losing myself, I have found my voice… Through a process oriented approach Gestalt is known to reach levels of intimacy fairly quickly even between strangers and yet without the induction of shame or the generating of unfinished business. You will “really meet others” and share the learning of • the language of responsibility through which the “you’

word is replaced by “I”• the way to turn judgments into interventions• the way to meet one another by honouring and respecting

difference

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS

24

The dynamism of early Gestalt was embedded in the 24 hour encounter groups where time and often exhaustion evoked honesty between group members. Contemporary Gestalt still works within the parameters of I and Thou here and now, and puts greater emphasis on embodied Relational truth, on the inseparability of self and other. Participants feel more fully alive through grounded and supported expression. Not for the faint of heart, this workshop is led by senior GIT faculty.

Dates and Times: Six Sunday afternoons Oct 20, Nov 24, Jan 19, Feb 9, Mar 22, Apr 26 2:00 – 4:00pmFee: $350Early Bird Fee: $ 300 (register by October 1)

ENCOUNTER GROUP

A group of people committed to meeting once a month to practice radical honesty wvith one another in a safe environment . Designed for Gestalt students and alumni who wish to renew their present-centered I and Thou engagement skills.

An opportunity to:• Practice using phenomenological language to describe

your experience in a way that is neutral and honest so as to make impact

• Play in the space between you-and-me we call “contact”• Rediscover where self support meets other support• Receive feedback that is Beyond judgment and beyond

blame• Become more Responsive and Flexible to the truth of your

impact on another


25

Experiences include: • Opening our windows of tolerance on the ability to be

loved• Codependency and what the heart is asking• What we give to others as key to what we need • Love and sex, the different needs we have that get

confused between the two• The place of compassion and empathy in the human

design Leader: Jay Tropianskaia, RP, Senior Faculty, Dates and Times: Tuesday March 24, 31, April 7, 21,28, 7:00-9:00pmFee: $ 375Early Bird Rate: $ 325 (register by February 28)

THE LOVE WORKSHOP

One of my shamanic teachers used to say “with all my skills in sensing and seeing, when I am in love I go into high alert because I know I am in danger”.

In therapy sessions and in many friendships, love

is the ground. That is, it is not the pre-requisite for getting together and it is not the outcome. It is the given. In most other arenas of our lives – from family, to marriage and other such partnerships, to spiritual communities, country and culture – what we know of as love and how to love remains a mystery. This workshop explores the relationship between falling in love, being in love and loving. You will be guided to explore experientially the forms love takes, and the different embodied feelings and expressions of loving.


26

• Know the other through knowing yourself at the deepest level of energy

• Examine the blocks to energy that keep us from maintaining our presence in other worlds and spaces

Leader: Jay Tropianskaia, Senior FacultyDates and Times: Tuesday February 25, March 3 & 10,6:30-9:00pmFee: $225Early Bird Fee: $195 (register by January 10)

SHAMANISM FOR GESTALTISTS

Part Two of the intersection between shamanism and embodied relational Gestalt explores what Castenada called the Energy Body and what Gestalt calls “the space between”.

Participants will learn to• Identify and control the level of energy you bring into a

space in order to respond impactfully to the energy of the other

• Learn the vital importance of making every space your own

• Begin to discern the difference between different energies, both human and non human in order to interpret and respond to intent

• Re-awaken the “living body” which includes 10 eyes, 5 ears, 10 chakras, and feeler fibres and what we call “the aura” - that were key to survival in ancient societies


27

Grant began his meditation practice while in South Asia studying yoga in 2005. He has studied in the Theravadin and Zen traditions and spent nearly two years living at Tassajara Zen Mountain Centre in California. Grant is a senior Gestalt Institute student and trainee

therapist and co-facilitates the dharma group Gravity (gravityto.org) in Toronto, giving talks and hosting sits and retreats.

Leader: Grant HutchinsonDates and Times: Tuesday mornings March 10, 17, 24, 31, 10:00am-12:00pmFee: $150

THE SPACE IN BETWEEN

Do you rise from your meditation with compassion for all beings - until you actually meet one? Is it hard to stay connected to your practice when the proverbial rubber hits the road of your life?

Over four sessions, we will explore the space between sitting in silence and sitting with another person; between internal/ external awareness of your body and of staying attuned to it while connecting to another person; between the language your body speaks and the words you choose. Together, let’s explore relational meditation as the subtle and ordinary practice of meeting another human being.


28

Ming Wu is a Gestalt psychotherapist-in-training and is a HBA graduate of York University. Ming’s passion for sensory awareness, art and meditation has greatly impacted her therapy sessions with individuals. She enriches her Gestalt training with

ongoing training in somatic experiencing for trauma. She is looking forward to bring the “language of the body” into the experiences of honouring our differences with each other.

Sheldon Holder is an activist, musician, writer and trainer. He completed three years of the Five Year Training Program before taking a break to pursue a double major in Human Geography and History with a minor in Equity Studies at the University of Toronto. He has never left the GIT

community or his commitment to Gestalt. He joins us at the Institute in training aspiring therapists to honour racial, gender and cultural differences. Sheldon produces workshops for therapists and trainees that seek to open a space for dialogue around the differences between us.

HONORING DIFFERENCES

This workshop seeks to open a space for dialogue around the differences between us. We will do this in an effort to find our own bodily support for the consequent shame in confronting these differences. Together we will

explore the traumatic response that arises out of discrimination and self-censorship. In a world where there is an urgent need to maintain conformity and respectability, we will attempt to create a safe space for a humane contact using the Gestalt approach.

Leaders: Ming Wu and Sheldon HolderDates and Times: Six Tuesday evenings, November 19, 26, December 1, 10, 2019, January 7, 14, 2020 7:00 – 9:00pmFee: $225


29

Leaders: Sharon Faibish & Modya Silver, Senior StudentsDates and Times: Six Sundays October 27 to December 1 5:00-7:00pmFee: $60

SHARING OUR STORIES - THE IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE

For many newcomers to Canada the immigrant experience has been filled not only with opportunities but with challenges. Often there is

little time or welcoming space to share the more challenging side of the experience, the places where your new life may not be what you expected. This group is designed as a space to share your stories - successes as well as struggles. The Gestalt approach supports our desire for authentic human contact and connection through deep dialog based in the sharing of one another’s commonalities and differences.


30 ARMCHAIR SERIES

OCTOBER 15, 2019 NOVEMBER 12, 2019 FEBRUARY 4, 2020 APRIL 27, 2020 JUNE 16, 2020

Fee: $10 per session

Power – what is it? Whose is it? Power Up – Fear of Shining Power On – Vitality of the Living Body Power Over and Under – Dominance and Submission Top Dog and UnderdogPower and Weakness – Explore the Real Power of Weakness

::::

:

ARMCHAIR SERIES

This series examines one of the least understood concepts in our world today. Take an experiential look at Power through different Gestalt lenses, and through the presence of various Gestalt faculty.

49TH

ANN

UAL PO

TPOU

RRI31

2:00 pm – SIDE 3 – MEETING UP (how am I met and how am I missed?)

• Halo: “Remember those walls I built… they’re tumbling down”—Beyoncé

• Knowing Me, Knowing You: “It’s the best I can do”—ABBA

• Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood: “I’m just a soul whose intentions are good”—Nina Simone

3:45 pm – SIDE 4 – PARTING WAYS (hanging on and walking out)

• Don’t Make Me Over: “Accept me for what I am”— Dionne Warwick

• Get Lucky: “We’ve come too far to give up who we are”—Daft Punk

• Unfinished Symphony: “How can you have a day without a night?”—Massive Attack

5:00 pm FEEDBACK

6:00 pm CLOSE

Leaders: Senior students of the GIT Date: Saturday April 18, 2020 Fee: $60

GESTALT MIXTAPE 2020 - COME AS YOU ARE On each of the Sides choose one workshop for a total of 4!

9:00 am - Registration

9:30 am – SIDE 1 - SHOWING UP (the hidden sidesof myself)

• “No one’s getting smarter” - The Offspring • “I ask myself what am I doing here?” - Alessia Cara • “Shyness is nice” - The Smiths

11:00 am – SIDE 2 – WANTING IT (desires, addictions and fears)

• Desperado: “Your pain and your hunger, they’re driving you home”—Eagles

• Bad Romance: “I want your everything as long as it’s free”—Lady Gaga

• What Do You Want From Me?: “Do you think I know something you don’t know?”—Pink Floyd

49TH ANNUAL POTPOURRI

32 FACULTY STAFF AND GUEST LEADERS

FACULTY AND STAFF

Jay TropianskaiaSenior Faculty

Carolina EdwardsSenior Faculty

Tony GrecoSenior Faculty

Lauren Nancarrow Clarke, Faculty

Luisa de AmaralFaculty

Scarlett PetersonOffice Manager

Zizi Indra PutraAdministrative Assistant

Natasha TeoiliExecutive Director

33FACULTY STAFF AND GUEST LEADERSFAC

ULTY STAFF AN

D G

UEST LEAD

ERS

GUEST LEADERS

Michael Clemmens

Gianni Francesetti

RuellaFrank

Deborah Plummer

Susan Sinclair

Margherita Spagnuolo Lobb

Charlene AvalosElder Shirley Gillis-Kendall

34 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The Gestalt Institute of Toronto is a charitable organization registered with the Canada Revenue Agency and a private educational institute with Human Resources Development Canada.

The GIT Board of Directors works with the administration and Faculty to establish policy and direct ongoing strategies for development and change. A special thanks to the Board President, Carol Good, for her clarity, and care and commitment to excellence in leadership. The current board represents a high level of skills and experience which have made It possible for the GIT to go to new levels with confidence. We are grateful for the giveaway of time and energy of board members who are all voluntary, a number of whom have served for several years.

Board of Directors

Carol Good, President

Jeff Bouganim, Treasurer

Michael Cottrell Natalie Haynes

Linda Kamerman Michelle Keeley Andrew Miller Michele Connor

35FACULTY, STAFF & BOARD OF DIRECTORSBO

ARD O

F DIREC

TORS

DONORS & DONATION

The Gestalt Institute of Toronto has an oral history and a written tradition that goes back to 1973 and before. If you have been changed in any way by your experience at the GIT, you are part of the lineage of Gestalt. Your donation can support our physical expansion and help us to increase our ability to reach a wider community so that Gestalt can continue to evolve and be relevant. In August 2016 the Gestalt Institute of Toronto moved to new expanded quarters on Parliament Street. We are currently raising money for the creation of a dedicated Student Clinic space. You can support through a tax deductible donation to the GIT Student Clinic Building Fund, the JoAnne Greenham Memorial Fund or the Bursary Fund. All donations are gratefully appreciated.

Donation Funds• Student Clinic Building Fund (fund to create physical space

for two dedicated therapy rooms for student therapists)• JoAnne Greenham Memorial Fund (fund to honor one Year

3 student each year who most closely carries forward the humour, creativity and presence of our beloved Executive Director who passed away in February 2014)

• Bursary Fund (provides for 5 bursaries each year to students who can benefit from financial support to continue their training)

Sustaining the Lineage & Building the Future

Thank you to our 2018 -2019 Donors

Lifetime Member: Marsha Baillie

Gold Donors ($1000 or more): Bud Tangney, Year 2A & 2B Class Fundraising, Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy

Silver Donors (up to $1000): Linda Kamerman, Natalie Gold

36 YEAR AT A GLANCE

September 2019Information Night

Debbie PlummerAdvancing Inclusion

October 2019Armchair Series

Encounter Group

Information Night

Sharing our Stories:The Immigrant Experience

November 2019Embodied Dialogue

Armchair series

Michael ClemmensBody Structure

Honoring DifferencesSupport Group

December 2019The Guilty Healer

DateSeptember 16

September 26 & 27

October 15

October 20 – April 26

October 28

October 27 - December 1

November 6 - December 18

November 12

November 14 & 15

November 19 - January 14

December 2

Page39

19

30

24

39

29

17

30

20

28

16

January 2020Ruella FrankCPSP - Level 2A

Information Night

Really Meet Each OtherThe Power Of Process

Gianni FrancesettiPanic Attacks

February 2020Armchair Series

Gestalt for Supervisors

Information Night

Shamanism for Gestaltists Part Two

March 2020Information night

The Space in BetweenRelational Meditation

The Love Workshop

DateJanuary 10-12

January 13

January 14 - March 17

January 15

February 4

February 10

February 10

February 25 - March 10

March 9

March 10 - 31

March 24 - April 28

Page22

39

23

21

30

14

39

26

39

27

25

37YEAR AT A GLANCEYEAR AT A G

LANC

E

April 2020Working with Couples

Annual PotpourriCome As You Are

Information Night

Armchair Series

May 2020Information Night

June 2020Annual June Residential

Armchair Series

Ruella FrankCPSP - Level 2B

DateApril 3 - May 1

April 18

April 20

April 27

May 25

June 2 - 7

June 16

June 19 - 21

Page15

31

39

30

39

18

30

22

Gestalt therapy is an opportunity to move through old issues, make changes, improve relationships, express creativity, decrease generalized fear and mistrust, and learn to have more fun. Gestalt therapy is a present-centered and experiential approach to personal change. To be fully present in the here and now offers you more excitement, energy and courage to live life directly.

The Gestalt Student Clinic is run by our Year Four and Five students. They provide excellent and affordable psychotherapy under supervision. Confidentiality is assured. The service is available in Toronto, Thornhill, Missisauga, Burlington and Guelph.

38 THE GESTALT STUDENT CLINIC

Therapists at the Gestalt Student Clinic are available days, evenings and weekends. We currently have student therapists who can provide therapy in languages other than English. Please contact the clinic for information.

Fee: $40 per session

For an appointment call 416.964.9464 ext.18

INFORMATION NIGHTS

A perfect introduction to the method, the approach and the community of the Gestalt Institute of Toronto. Learn first hand about our Five Year Training Program through combining with like-minded people in lively Gestalt experiential explorations of yourself and others. Evenings are led by Gestalt faculty. Dates and Times: Monday evenings 7:00 – 9:00pm September 16, 2019October 28, 2019January 13, 2020February 10, 2020March 9, 2020April 20, 2020May 25, 2020

THE GESTALT INSTITUTE OF TORONTO 39

Gestalt Institute of Toronto2019-2020 Training Catalogue

Documents

Gestalt Institute of Toronto · The Gestalt Institute of Toronto is one of the oldest established psychotherapy training schools in Canada. We were established in 1973 as a center