FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Apr 28, 2015

THE GESTALT INSTITUTE OF TORONTO IS A RECOGNIZED EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR TRAINING OF PSYCHOTHERAPISTS IN ONTARIO!

As of April 1st, 2015 the Psychotherapy Act 2007 was proclaimed, creating the new College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario. The Gestalt Institute of Toronto is proud that its Five-Year Training Program was the first education and training program to receive recognition from CRPO. This historic recognition means that the Gestalt program is fully recognized by CRPO as a coherent institute of education and training in psychotherapy, ensuring our students and graduates will achieve the competencies required by the standards of the profession.

As of the first of April, all practicing Ontario psychotherapists are required to register with the College if they wish to practice their profession. An exciting number of our students and Graduates have already been welcomed to the College through the Grandparenting route and we send them our deepest congratulations. The Gestalt Institute of Toronto Five Year Training program supports our students in in the application process. For additional information on the College’s process, contact the CRPO (http://www.crpo.ca).

The Gestalt Institute of Toronto’s 5-Year Training comprises five years of ascending personal development and growth, leading to leadership in personal, group and therapeutic arenas, and culminating in advanced Gestalt psychotherapy training in its final two years. The curriculum is a professional, part-time program that runs from September to June.

Gestalt therapy is a form of psychotherapy that emphasizes: 1) a focus on the individual’s experience in the present moment and the use of creative and experiential techniques to enhance awareness, freedom and self-direction 2) personal responsibility; people can make meaningful and satisfying personal changes and 3) a fierce sense of inclusiveness and compassion for people in their vast variety which creates a non-judgmental and accepting therapeutic environment.

The Gestalt Institute is honoured to be recognized in Ontario and to reaffirm the place of Gestalt Therapy in the health care community. “This is a monumental time for Gestalt therapy as the core of our therapeutic approach, the therapist’s use of self in order to create effective interventions, is valued as the highest competency by the new college. Our forty four year history has come full circle into a new Gestalt, committed to the field of psychotherapy and to the widening community of our students, graduates, faculty and staff.” Jay Tropianskaia, Director of Training.

The Gestalt Institute of Toronto is a registered private educational institute and a registered charitable organization since 1973.

For more information about Gestalt psychotherapy, or to enrol in programs, please visit our website at www.gestalt.on.ca.

JoAnne Greenham Memorial Fund

JoAnne Greenham passed away February 12, 2014. The Board of Directors established a JoAnne Greenham Memorial fund in honour of her many contributions to the Gestalt Institute of Toronto. As the Executive Director of the G.I.T. for nearly two decades, JoAnne was a renowned Gestalt Therapist who possessed a unique combination of creativity, humour, compassion, and courage which resulted in a truly artful expression of Gestalt. This annual award will be bestowed upon a Year Three student of the G.I.T. Five Year Training program who best exemplifies the essence of JoAnne’s abilities – to be present, aware and available, humorous, light-hearted and powerful, creative, nurturing and challenging. The student will be jointly selected by the GIT faculty and their Year 3 classmates in March of each year, as long as award monies are available. The Board of Directors decided that because the Maple Lake residential held a particularly poignant and favoured spot in JoAnne’s heart, the award would go to pay for the Maple Lake residential fee for the Year 3 student who most exemplified what JoAnne stood for.