What is Gestalt Therapy?
Gestalt is a German word meaning “a whole”, a living form greater than the sum of its parts. Gestalt therapy invites us to recognise ourselves as fluid beings, continually unfolding within the web of our environment, our relationships, and the worlds that shape us. It calls us into presence, to meet life as it arises, moment to moment, movement by movement, and to rediscover growth, creativity, and wholeness woven through the very fabric of our being.
What is Gestalt? | In the Voices of Our Students
With heartfelt thanks to Louise McNamara for generously creating and sharing this video, and to all our students who participated with care and heart.
Gestalt Psychotherapy was developed by Fritz Perls, Laura Perls, and Paul Goodman as a move away from psychoanalysis toward a humanistic, experiential, and relational approach. Rooted in existential philosophy, Gestalt emphasizes personal responsibility, embodied awareness, and the movement from dependency toward interdependence and wholeness.
At the heart of Gestalt therapy lies the intention to support people in becoming themselves in the beauty of their uniqueness. When awareness is limited, people may move through life with aspects of themselves unacknowledged, such as suppressed emotions or disconnected bodily experiences, which can create difficulties in relationships. Early childhood experiences and relational patterns shape how people engage with others, sometimes leading to habitual ways of relating that restrict openness, choice, and vitality in the present moment.
Gestalt therapy continues to evolve within the humanistic and integrative movement in psychotherapy. It fosters wholeness through awareness, emphasising how experience is shaped by relational and environmental dynamics. Rather than focusing solely on past events, Gestalt therapy explores how patterns of engagement emerge in the present and how spontaneous feeling and expression may be blocked. Through relational dialogue and embodied exploration, clients are supported in reclaiming vitality and expanding their capacity for meaningful contact.
A Gestalt group provides a dynamic and creative encounter where individuals can deepen their awareness of relational patterns. By engaging with the present moment and attending to embodied experience, participants can cultivate richer, more fulfilling connections and a greater sense of aliveness in their relationships and daily lives.
“Gestalt therapy is a way of life, not just a therapeutic method.”
— Laura Perls