Two-Year Personal Development Program
Year I and II
This two-year training program will change your life. The work is carried out with challenge, integrity, and respect. Laughter is as much a part of the contract with students as is the struggle that comes with personal change.
Experienced in a group setting, the process provides exposure to Gestalt principles and methods. Led by Faculty with many years of experience, this group is an important first step towards making significant changes in your life. The personal development training is a foundation program for a new way of living.
The program is for individuals who are:
- Committed to personal growth and change.
- Willing to confront themselves in a group setting.
- Open to contact and feedback from others.
- Open to experiential learning.
- Attracted to a spirit of excitement, support, challenge, and fun.
Curriculum
Year 1
Personal Growth
How to tap more of your personal potential by gaining awareness of how you operate in the world and by experimenting with alternatives to outmoded or harmful behaviours that currently interfere with your effectiveness.
Body Awareness
How your body holds many keys to your character and ways you can work with your body to gain awareness and to release blocked energy.
Interpersonal Skills
How to relate to others more satisfactorily both at work and in your personal life and how to relate to others less defensively.
Emotional Expressiveness
How to express yourself more freely, fully, and directly so that you will develop the ability to include excitement in your relationships and in your creative endeavours.
Year 2
In addition to deepening the work of Year 1, you will enhance your knowledge of systems and styles of leadership within the group process. This year is personally challenging as group members take more responsibility for influencing change in each other. There will be an opportunity for group and individual feedback and evaluation at the end of this year.
Introduction to Group Leadership:
- How to take charge in a leadership role and how to sustain your leadership
- How to deal better with the unexpected and gain more flexibility and inventiveness in the moment.
- How to increase awareness of personal issues and how these issues affect your leadership.
Introduction to Group Process:
- How groups function.
- How to work with resistance to help the group reach its goals.
- How to conceive of interventions that enhance group development.
Individuals meeting the requirements of the full two years will receive a Certificate of Completion of the Two-Year Training in Gestalt Theory and Methodology.
Two-Year Professional Development Program
Year III and IV
The two-year professional program is designed to hone and expand your experience with Gestalt Therapy. It is meant to be a continuation of the Two-Year Personal Training Program (together, “The Training Program”) and is thus referred to as Years 3 and 4.
This program is for individuals who have:
- A Certificate of Completion of the Two-Year Personal Training Program in Gestalt Theory and Methodology.
- Professional qualifications or equivalent work experience.
- A commitment to personal psychotherapy and growth.
- An opportunity to use Gestalt in the context of their work setting.
- Completed 30 hours of personal therapy and 550 hours of training in the Personal Development component of The Training Program at the Gestalt Institute of Toronto or an equivalent program elsewhere (each application will be considered individually).
- Successfully completed a standardized interview.
Components:
- Gestalt group process skills.
- Individual therapy skills.
- Advanced personal development.
Evaluation is carried out by means of a competency-based practical and oral examination and a written dissertation. Each applicant will be evaluated individually.
Year 3: Advanced Gestalt Leadership Training
While studying in the third year of The Training Program you will gain leadership experience by co-leading with faculty in The Training Program and in the various public programs held at the Institute.
Year 3 includes:
- 235 hours of leadership training within a group.
- 100 hours of direct supervision and co-leadership within The Training Program
Students are expected to complete:
- 50 hours of supervised leadership with faculty.
- 50 hours of co-leadership with a colleague.
Each student must design, plan, market, and deliver a group program for the public, to be carried out at a location other than the Gestalt Institute of Toronto.
Goals of Year 3 – Enable students to:
- Design, plan, and deliver Gestalt workshops and seminars.
- Manage the unexpected within the development of the group.
- Develop high-calibre co-leadership skills.
- Learn how to lead a group through its various stages of development.
- Incorporate responsiveness, creativity, humour, and perspective in their leadership.
- Develop a personal style of leadership that incorporates Gestalt.
- Develop a facility for processing and applying Gestalt principles and methods.
Individuals successfully meeting the requirements of this program receive a Certificate of Completion of a Professional Program in Advanced Gestalt Leadership Training (as well as the much coveted Gestalt T-Shirt!).
Year 4: Post-Graduate Program of Training and Supervision in Gestalt Therapy
The program is for individuals who have:
- Completed the Advanced Gestalt Leadership Training component (Year 1, above) of the Training Program and who wish to become a Gestalt Therapist.
- Completed 50 hours of personal therapy with approved Gestalt therapists.
- An undergraduate degree in a related field.
The program includes:
- 150 hours of individual or group therapy with clients.
- A minimum of 30 hours of individual supervision with Faculty.
- A minimum of 100 seminar hours together with Year Four+ group.
- A minimum of 25 hours of observation and co-leadership with the Faculty and Year Three students is offered to enhance your learning.
Each student must design, plan, market, and deliver a group program for the public to be carried out at a location other than the Gestalt Institute of Toronto.
Goals of Year 4+ – Enable students to:
- Develop a client base for the application of Gestalt therapy.
- Develop an individual therapeutic style that integrates the Gestalt approach.
- Provide Gestalt therapy to clients from varying backgrounds and situations.
- Include perspective, responsiveness, humour, and creativity in their clinical approach to therapy.
- Understand neurosis and the appropriate application of Gestalt Therapy.
- Understand in-depth Gestalt theory and its application.
At the end of the year, students who have not yet completed the requirements for their certificate may choose to continue to attend Year 4+ seminars. The cost for will be $45 per three-hour seminar. Students may also choose to attend the Master Class at this point in their training
Individuals successfully meeting the requirements of this program receive a Certificate of Completion of a Professional Program in Advanced Gestalt Therapy Training.
Note: Completion of Year 4+ may take from one to five years.
The “May Residential”
The May five-day residential training takes place in a rural setting. Students often experience their most profound growth experiences during the May residential. The intensive program completes the training component each May for Years 1, 2, and 3 culminating in a graduation ceremony on the Saturday evening.
The “June Residential”
The June five-day residential training is organized for the Year 4+ and One-Year Gestalt Training for Professionals students as a requirement for the successful completion of their program. Alumni and participants from other Gestalt programs are also welcome to attend. This intensive week of training culminates in a graduation ceremony on the Saturday evening celebrating those who have completed all the requirements of the Year 4+ program.
