EMBODIED

SOCIAL JUSTICE

Our Commitment to Embodied Social Justice

At the Gestalt Institute of Ireland, we recognise that therapy and training do not exist apart from the wider world. We are committed to social justice and to standing alongside those who suffer. We do our best not to look away from human pain, injustice, and inequality, and we seek to respond with integrity, respect, and humility.

For us, this also means engaging with suffering in an embodied way, being present not only with words, but with our whole selves. In our teaching and practice, we hold space for witnessing: meeting others in their experience, staying open to what unfolds between us, and allowing that encounter to change us and deepen our shared awareness.

Our work is guided by an ethic of care, dialogue, and embodied presence, an ongoing effort to honour our shared humanity and to contribute, in whatever ways we can, to a more just and compassionate world.

Supporting Colleagues in

Ukraine

Since the early days of the war in 2022, faculty of the Gestalt Institute of Ireland has been meeting weekly with a group of psychotherapists living and working in Ukraine. These online gatherings offer a space for connection, mutual support, and the sharing of professional and personal experiences in the midst of extraordinary hardship.

Our intention is to stand alongside our Ukrainian colleagues with presence, care, and solidarity, acknowledging both the profound challenges they face and the strength, resilience, and dedication they continue to show in their lives and work. We remain committed to sustaining this connection for as long as it is needed, recognising the vital importance of companionship and community in times of crisis.

A person walking along a sandy beach holding a large Ukrainian flag, with the ocean and cloudy sky in the background.

In Solidarity with the

People of Palestine

As an Institute, we cannot separate our therapeutic practice from the realities of human suffering in the world. The ongoing devastation in Palestine calls us to witness, to not turn away, and to offer what support we can. While we are not in a position to provide direct aid, we contribute through donations and by holding spaces of dialogue among psychotherapists and supervisors, where grief, rage, helplessness, and hope can be spoken and shared. Our hope is that such forms of contact may support movement and action within our profession.

We know that what we offer is small in the face of such suffering, yet we believe that intention matters: to stand present, to acknowledge pain, and to affirm our shared humanity. We hope that this presence carries even a glimmer of solidarity.

Below we share links to organisations offering direct support in Gaza, alongside moving and powerful works of Palestinian art expressions of resilience and the unbroken will to be seen.

A young boy with curly hair wearing a headband, smiling and waving a small flag with the colors black, white, green, and red, near a tree with an adult in the background wearing a face mask.

Voices of Palestinian People

If I Must Die - Tribute to Refaat Alareer

THE HANGING MOON (Official Video) - Le Trio Joubran

If My Words by Rafeef Ziadah