A Gestalt Approach to Working with Families

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A Gestalt Approach to Working with Families

• Douglas Sharp
• Johanna Babbs

CJSW Regional Practitioner Network Conferences
2009
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So what is Gestalt?

• A German word meaning pattern, shape,
  constellation, the whole form.
• The whole is greater than the sum of the parts
• Present oriented
• Experimental - Now I am aware of
• Needs based approach

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So how does Gestalt Therapy work?

• Raise Awareness
• Increase Options
• Engender Responsibility
• Optimise Health

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Paradoxical Theory of Change

• Change occurs when one becomes what he is, not
  when he tries to become what he is not
• Beisser (1970)

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The Field
Intrapersonal Interpersonal
Family Group Environment
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Human Needs
(Abraham Maslow)
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The Cycle of Experience
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Gestalt Family Work

• Celebrate good functioning

• Defining the family

Principles
Parent child dynamics
Family subsystems
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Working Method (Phenomenological)

• Stay as close to the familys experience as
  possible in the here and now
• Bracket your own beliefs, assumptions and
  judgments
• Describe phenomenon in terms of what is
  immediately obvious to the senses
• Give everything you notice potentially equal
  importance
• Be actively curious

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Gestalt in Practice

• Integrate approach into casework
• Direct work with families as a psychotherapist
• Family work consultancy in a multi-agency forum
• Non-managerial clinical supervision 11 or team
• Continuing Professional Development

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Book References

• Family Work
• Zinker, Joseph C. (1994) In search of Good Form
  Gestalt Therapy with Couples and Families
  California Gestalt Press. ISBN 0 88163 293 7
• A very readable, practical guide to Gestalt work
  with couples and families with case study
  examples
• Children and Young People
• Oaklander, Violet (1978) Windows to Our Children
  New YorkThe Gestalt Journal Press. ISBN 0
  939266 06 7
• Practical ways of working with children and
  adolescents using art and play therapy
• The Gestalt Approach
• Clarkson, Petruska (1989) Gestalt Counselling in
  Action London Sage
• ISBN 0 7619 6313-8
• A clear and comprehensive introduction to Gestalt
  counselling providing a guide to theory and
  practice.
• Joyce, P Sills, C (2001) Skills in Gestalt
  Counselling Psychotherapy London Sage. ISBN
  0 7619 5699 9
• A practical introduction to the application of
  the Gestalt approach at each stage of the
  therapeutic process. Contains practical exercises
  for the reader to try.