About the Institute

The Gestalt Institute of Cleveland (GIC) was established in 1954 by some of the earliest students of Fritz Perls, Laura Perls, Isadore Fromm, and Paul Goodman. In 1966, GIC began introducing training programs that pioneered the application of Gestalt theory to work with couples, families, groups, and organizations.

Today, GIC is the world's largest institute, and one of the finest, for the study, development, and application of Gestalt theory. Its professional and personal development programs draw participants from all over the world. GIC faculty and graduates innovatively apply Gestalt principles to psychotherapy as well as to business, health care, educational, governmental, community, and religious organizations.

Currently, GIC offers workshops, professional training programs, and conferences through the Training and Human Development Programs and the Organization and Systems Development Programs, and is affiliated with the Gestalt International Study Center/Center for the Study of Intimate Systems.

GIC also supports the GestaltPress in association with Jossey-Bass/Simon & Schuster, The Analytic Press, and Earlbaum Associates. It has published significant work in the Gestalt approach to growth and change in individuals, families, and organizational systems. The GestaltPress is committed to the continual development of Gestalt theory and application, reflected in recent, forthcoming, and in-progress titles.

 

Approach to Learning

The question we are asked most frequently is "What is Gestalt?" The German word gestalt means a complete pattern or configuration. A gestalt is a perceived whole. Gestalt theory is rooted in perceptual psychology, holism, and field and systems theory. Our faculty’s approach to teaching and learning embodies key principles from these theoretical perspectives:

• Growth. We believe that individuals or organizations can be healthy, adaptive, and conducive to growth. The Gestalt approach seeks to raise awareness of obstacles to growth and to find creative solutions which support harmony between the person or organization and the environment.
  
• Experience. We work towards heightening the awareness of self, others, or the group through experiencing and experimenting with new behaviors.
  
• Present. Attention to the present experience is often the starting point for discovering the self or organization and its blocks to growth. Past experience is honored; we believe history can be appreciated best as manifested in present behaviors, perceptions, interactions, and processes.
  
• Person or Organization as a Whole. Our Gestalt model embraces the person, group, or organization as a dynamic integrated organism. As complex systems, the intellectual, emotional, physical, and spiritual aspects of individuals are constantly working toward balance. Similarly, organizations are viewed as a whole entity with interactive parts. To focus on only one part of the individual or the organization lessens the potential for awareness, growth, and productivity.

 

Continuing Education (CE)

Many of GIC’s training programs, seminars, and workshops are approved for continuing education (CE) by professional accreditation organizations. Students not eligible for CEs from the organizations listed here may receive CEs for their training at GIC in accordance with the guidelines established by the Council on the Continuing Education.

• The State of Ohio Counselor and Social Worker Board grants GIC an approved provider status to provide continuing education for counselors and social workers (Counselor CPE and Social Work CPE). Approval for social work contact hours varies from state to state. Please consult your state's credentialing board for information.
• The National Board for Certified Counselors recognizes GIC to offer continuing education for National Certified Counselors. It is the responsibility of the provider to abide by the NBCC continuing education guidelines.
• The Gestalt Institute of Cleveland is identified as a provider organization by the Ohio Psychological Association–Mandatory Continuing Education office (OPA-MCE) and by the American Psychological Association (APA-CE). GIC maintains responsibility for the program.
• The American Psychological Association approves GIC to offer continuing education for psychologists. GIC maintains responsibility for the program (APA CE).
• The Ohio Nurses Association accepts continuing education credits approved by the State of Ohio Counselor and Social Worker Board as meeting the requirements for continuing education for nurses.
• The Ohio Credentialing Board for Chemical Dependency Professionals has awarded Board-required contact hours (BRCHs) for selected GIC workshops for counselors and supervisors.

Each accrediting organization establishes the requirements for approved areas of coursework, and a formula to determine how many classroom hours are necessary to earn a CE. Each GIC workshop and training program is labeled with symbols signifying the types of CEs for which they qualify, if any. See chart below.Upon completion of a training program or of a GIC workshop designated as eligible for continuing education, and upon full payment of fees, participants receive a continuing education certificate that may be submitted to their accreditation board or organization. An additional charge applies to process special requests for other types of documentation of coursework. Lost certificates will be replaced for a $15 fee.

* See Workshop and Training Program descriptions

 

Tax Deduction for Professional Education

GIC is incorporated as a nonprofit educational association under the laws of the State of Ohio. Contributions to GIC are tax-deductible. Treasury Regulation 1.162-5 permits an income tax deduction for educational expenses, including registration fees, travel, meals, and lodging that have been undertaken to:

• Maintain or improve skills required in one's employment or other trade or business.

• Meet express requirements of an employer, or a law imposed as a condition of or for retention of employment, job status, or rate of compensation.

Those wishing to deduct these types of expenses should confer with their tax consultant about their potential qualification for these deductions.

 

GIC Programs and Clinical Services

GIC is committed to the highest standards of professional competence. However, its programs are not meant to deliver clinical services. All workshops and group activities sponsored by the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland are designed primarily for educational and personal development. While frequently very moving and significant experiences, participation in Gestalt workshops is but one step in the process of self-development. These experiences should not be viewed as a means of securing treatment or therapy for critical personal or interpersonal difficulties, emotional disturbances, mental illness, or other conditions for which direct clinical service is most appropriate. Many of GIC’s faculty are licensed practitioners in private practice or in clinical service facilities. Any persons seeking Gestalt therapy for a personal problem may contact GIC for the names of qualified Gestalt therapists.

If you have questions regarding the appropriateness of applying for any GIC workshop, please contact GIC or a faculty member staffing the workshop in question.

 

Board of Directors

 

Robert Cohen
Lawerence Bell
Luis Felipe Amunategui, PhD
Gayle E. Huggins, BA
Ronald Moss
Dorothy Faller
David Hertz

 

Gestalt Related Links

STUDIES IN GESTALT THERAPY: DIALOGICAL BRIDGES, an international journal dedicated to establishing bridges between gestalt therapy and other contemporary modalities, is pleased to announce that it is in its second year of publication. Subscription information is available on its web site.
www.studies-in-gestalt.org

Gestalt Review is a publication that concentrates on the Gestalt approach to clinical, family, group, and organizational topics. Case studies and papers dealing with specific clinical issues are regularly featured, but the journal also publishes original papers dealing with politics, philosophy, culture, and gender.
www.gestaltreview.com

British Gestalt Journal posts contents of each of their Journals, together with abstracts of all major articles, on their website.
www.britishgestaltjournal.com

 

Notices

Notice
The information on this web site is accurate as of the time it was posted. The Gestalt Institute of Cleveland reserves the right to change program offerings, dates, fees, or faculty when necessary.

Notice of Nondiscriminatory Policy
The Gestalt Institute of Cleveland admits qualified applicants to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at GIC. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, or handicapped condition in the administration of its admissions policies, educational policies, scholarship and loan programs, or other GIC-administered programs.

Legal
GIC is incorporated as a nonprofit educational association under the laws of the State of Ohio. It is a membership organization which derives its financial support from dues and fees charged for its activities.

Web Site Copyright
Copyright ©2006 Gestalt Institute of Cleveland, Inc. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this material or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. Contact GIC for permissions.

 

Credits

Photography by Barbara Fields
Webhosting by John Erdie Web Design