for Therapists with Rita Resnick, Ph.D. and Robert W. Resnick, Ph.D.
Gestalt Associates Training Los Angeles

Internationally Renowned Gestalt Therapy & Couple Therapy Trainers
Oct 9-10 and Nov 6-7, 2010 • Seattle, Washington
(registration is for both weekends)

An integrative training workshop series approaching both Individual and Couples Therapy from a Gestalt Therapy perspective (a field theoretical, phenomenological, dialogic and process model).

The workshop will include didactic theory presentations, discussions, observing the trainers work live (a rare training opportunity) followed by discussions of the work as well as optional "hands on" practice with live supervision of volunteer participants. The balance of how much Individual therapy and how much Couples therapy will be by consensus of the actual group members present.

As individual therapy is usually about the important relationships in clients' lives, combining these two modalities of practice sheds important light on how to negotiate both domains -- being an individual and being part of a couple. Although not the same, individual and couples functioning both effect and are affected by the other -- they are both limited and enriched by the other.

From a Gestalt perspective, both individual and couples therapy are exquisitely process-oriented and profoundly dialogic therapies. In individual therapy the relationship between the client and the therapist is crucial. The engagement (differences) of these two phenomonologies (client and therapist) is what allows awareness leading to choicefulness and the possibility for change. In couple's therapy, tracking the couple's actual engagement within the session is what leads to increased awareness, choicefulness and the possibility for change.

Contemporary Gestalt Therapy continues to stay vital, relevant and at the cutting edge of psychotherapy, by constantly integrating (with discrimination), both theoretical and research findings from the fields of psychotherapy, neuroscience, cognitive psychology history, anthropology and more. For individual therapy, the heart of the work is in a fully engaged relationship with the client whereby the relationship becomes the window ("fresh fish") to identify process.

Our Couples Therapy model explicitly deals with the basic human dilemma that all of us deal with from birth to death: How to be with an other and maintain a self...? as well as the fundamental source of all couples issues: Dealing with difference. With rare exceptions, how couples deal with differences is far more important than what the differences actually are.

This workshop will be taught by seasoned Gestalt Couples and Individual Therapists and Trainers who are willing to allow their own live work to be seen, questioned, and compared with both their own theoretical formulations as well as other theoretical models and their practitioners. Participants will have the option of working as therapist with others in the workshop with live supervision from the faculty. The work will be carefully discussed and supervised in a respectful, supportive and collegial manner - hopefully providing useful and assimilable consultation. These workshops will teach participants The Resnicks' integrated theory and how it relates to both individual and couples work. All clinical work will be related to theory, hopefully making both more relevant and meaningful.

Workshops will include:

• Theory lectures on contemporary Gestalt and Couples Therapy encouraging questions, comments and comparisons (both within different Gestalt Therapy models as well as among Gestalt therapy, CBT, Contemporary Psychoanalysis, Emotion Focused, Systemic, Postmodern, etc.)

• Live "hands on" clinical work by the faculty with workshop participants (individual therapy) as well as model couples (couples therapy) with real live couples.

• Voluntary opportunities for participants to work as therapist with individuals in the group and with role-play and perhaps model couples all with live, supportive and collaborative supervision.

• Participants will see and discuss live work being done by the faculty rather than just "talking about what woulda, coulda, shoulda" happened -- which unfortunately characterizes most clinical training and supervision today.

• Each piece of clinical work will be related to the theory -- to clarify and to make both more meaningful and practical. Discussion, comparisons, questions and comments are welcomed. Theory, methodology and technique will all be addressed.

Bring your biases (you do have them), your open-mindedness to perceptually reorganize (hopefully) and your sense of humor (please).

12-15 CE Credits available per weekend for therapists attending this series. GATLA is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. GATLA maintains responsibility for these programs and their content. GATLA is approved by the BBS for continuing education credit for MFT's and LCSWs as required by the Calif. Bd. of Behavioral Sciences, BBSE approval no. PCE 841.

Click on the link below to register online:
Registration Form

NOTE: This series began with a workshop, February 27-28, 2010 and remains open to new members (or returning participants from previous years) for the second workshop, May 22-23, 2010. At that point, registration is closed for the two remaining workshops of the series, October 9-10. 2010 and November 6-7. 2010. At the end of the series, the group will decide whether or not to continue the series beginning January, 2011.