What if the challenges your clients bring aren't problems to solve, but tensions to navigate?
Like waves meeting the shore, our clients often move between competing desires: confidence and humility, action and reflection, stability and change, self-care and service. These aren't necessarily obstacles to overcome—they may be polarities that ebb and flow, inviting greater awareness, adaptability, and choice.
In this highly interactive workshop, you'll learn how to recognize and work with polarities as they emerge in coaching conversations. Drawing on Gestalt coaching principles, you'll develop your ability to identify hidden tensions, notice signs of resistance and interrupted awareness, and use inquiry, observation, and experimentation to help clients move beyond either/or thinking and toward a more fluid both/and approach.
Through live demonstrations, experiential activities, observed coaching practicums, and structured feedback, you'll practice new approaches in real time while strengthening your coaching presence, flexibility, and effectiveness.
Come prepared to coach, be coached, experiment, and learn alongside your peers. You'll leave with practical tools, fresh insights, and greater confidence in helping clients navigate complexity with the steadiness and flow that lead to creative, sustainable outcomes.
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Participants completing this workshop will be able to:
1. Define polarity theory and distinguish polarities from problems, conflicts, and dilemmas commonly encountered in coaching and leadership contexts.
2. Use polarity dynamics to understand client narratives, including competing values, needs, beliefs, behaviors, resistance and leadership challenges.
3. Build client awareness and learning through polarity-focused inquiry, coaching interventions and experiential approaches.
4. Co-create and evaluate experiments that help clients increase awareness, flexibility, and choice in navigating persistent polarities.
5. Practice coaching a client through a polarity exploration conversation while maintaining coaching presence, partnership, and client-centered awareness.
6. Hone the ICF core competencies: Cultivates Trust and Safety, Maintains Presence, Listens Actively, Evokes Awareness, Facilitates Client Growth.
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Open to practitioners, (coaches, OD, clinical) who want to hone their skills of surfacing and working polarities in their sessions. Some basic knowledge of polarities, and using experiments in sessions is suggested. This is a great way to deepen your impact and gain CCE hours at the same time!
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There are no prerequisites for this program.
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Tuition: $895.00
Early Registration Incentive - $850 paid by October 9, use code POLARITIES
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To receive a refund for your cancellation:
30 or more days prior to your start date, you will be eligible to receive a full refund minus a processing fee.
This processing fee is 4% of total amount.14 or more days prior to your start date, you will be eligible to be refunded 50% of the reservation total.
Cancellations less than 14 days prior to the start date of the workshop or program, credits may be offered at the discretion of the Institute. If the reason for your cancellation is considered an emergency, this will be taken into consideration upon submission of required documentation.
Credits issued in lieu of a refund must be used within 12 months of the original program or workshop start date. After this period, any unused credit will expire and will no longer be valid. Extensions will not be granted.
Notice of Nondiscriminatory Policy
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Continuing Education:
12 GPCC™ CCEs
10 Core Competency ICF CCEs
2 Resource Development ICF
Gestalt Institute of Cleveland (GIC) is approved by the Ohio Psychological Association (OPA), and the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC), and accepted by the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker and Marriage and Family Therapist Board to offer continuing education. Participants in the Coach Certification Program become eligible for ICF, GPCC™ and BCC certifications through one program. -
There is no known conflict of interest for this program.
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Participants must attend the entire course and complete a course evaluation to be eligible for CE credit.
Certificates of completion will be emailed within 10 business days of course completion.