The Certificate in Gestalt Clinical Supervision

Is more than a qualification - it is a transformative journey into a unique way of knowing, grounded in Gestalt epistemology. At the heart of this programme is an embodied, relational, and field-sensitive approach to supervision. Participants are invited into an educative process that honours lived experience, presence, dialogue, and the co-emerging field of every supervisory encounter.

This training is residential as it is designed for those who want to deepen their capacity to supervise with embodied awareness, creativity, and ethical sensitivity—while engaging in rigorous self-inquiry within a supportive, collaborative learning group over time.

What Makes This Programme Unique?

1. Embodied Epistemology
Our training is rooted in a way of knowing that honours the body, aesthetic sensibility, and the unfolding co-emerging embodied process of the here-and-now. Inspired by embodied phenomenology and Gestalt field theory, we explore supervision as a co-created space where meaning emerges through relationship, not from fixed models or top-down techniques.

2. A Living Learning Group
The group is central—not just as a container for learning but as a co-creative field in itself. Together, participants form a dynamic learning community where interpersonal process becomes a site for insight, practice, and transformation. You’ll experience and facilitate individual and group supervision, develop a nuanced understanding of group dynamics, and engage with the unfolding group field as both supervisor and participant.

3. Field-Centred Practice
Supervision is approached as an inherently relational and contextual process, shaped by the wider personal, social, cultural, and ecological field. Our work includes an active engagement with issues of intersectionality, diversity, and the impact of systemic power and difference on the supervisory relationship.

Who Is This Programme For?

This programme is designed for:

• Accredited psychotherapists and counsellors (minimum 4 years post-qualification)

• Those grounded in Gestalt, Humanistic, or Integrative approaches to therapy

• Practitioners beginning their supervisory journey or experienced supervisors seeking to re-root their work in a deeper, more embodied relational model that attends to the kinetic-kinaesthetic-haptic ways of knowing

The residential and group-based nature of the programme appeals to those who want to immerse themselves in an experiential, relationally rich learning environment.

Programme Structure

Duration: 18 months
Format: Six residential weekend workshops + five online integration sessions
Award: Level 9 Certificate in Clinical Supervision (20 ECTS)

Over the course of the programme, you will:

• Participate in 130 hours of tutor-led learning, including live practice

• Engage in a minimum of 50 hours of clinical supervision with supervisees

• Join supervision groups and explore how embodied knowing may point towards that which has yet to be spoken

• Take part in peer learning, independent study, and reflective assignments

• Learn with international and published Gestalt practitioners face to face and on-line

• Be part of a consistent group cohort, fostering deep connection and mutual learning

• Submit a supervision portfolio, critical reflections, and tutor-assessed reports

Embodied & Experiential Learning

Each workshop is a living, experiential, embodied and exploratory inquiry of supervisory practice. With a focus on the embodied and relational experience of the supervisor-supervisee dynamic, participants engage in:

• Live demonstrations and case-based teaching

• Group supervision practice and facilitation

• Peer and tutor feedback

• Creative experiments and movement that reveal the unspoken dynamics of the field

• Critical exploration of identity, power, and systemic factors affecting supervision

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge & Integration
Graduates will demonstrate:

• A field-sensitive understanding of supervision as a lived, relational process

• Integration of Gestalt theory with creative, aesthetic, and embodied knowing

• Deep awareness of the group field and its influence on supervision

• Sensitivity to diversity, systemic inequities, and ethical complexity

Skills
Graduates will be able to:

• Facilitate both individual and group supervision with depth and clarity

• Offer clear, developmental feedback grounded in awareness and relationship

• Work effectively in varied formats—online, in-person, group and organisational

• Apply creative, experimental approaches to explore supervisory dilemmas

• Maintain a rigorous ethical stance while honouring the fluidity of the field

Programme Staff

Core Faculty:

• Catherine Power – IAHIP, IACP

• Brenda Boland – IACP

• Kate McCarthy- IAHIP

• Dr. Billy Desmond – UKCP, IAHIP

In person visiting tutors: 

Julianne Appel-Opper 

On-line visiting tutors: 

Dr. Ruella Frank - Centre of Somatic Studies NYC

Dr. Margherita Spagnuolo-Lobb - Istituto di Gestalt HCC Human Communication Center Italy

Peter Philippson MSc - Manchester Gestalt Centre 

Fees & Application

Total Cost: €3,950- Fee includes SETU registration (Payable in four instalments)

Intake: Limited to 16 participants to preserve the integrity of the learning group

To Apply:

• Request an application form via admin@gestaltinstitute.ie

• Submit two professional references

• Participate in an online interview with programme staff

A Transformative Learning Community Awaits

Join a vibrant, reflective, and ethically grounded community of practitioners committed to deepening the art and practice of clinical supervision.

Be part of a unique supervision training grounded in embodied awareness, relational depth, and the ‘intelligence’ of the group field.