Gestalt Therapy and the Counsellor's Role

This article briefly describes how the Gestalt model of therapy changed the counsellor’s role because it allowed for a different and more open use of their role in therapy. This was much more collaborative and engaged than the Freudian psychoanalysts.

The counsellor could now participate in the relationship and co-create an experience between both people, involving interpretation of the situation as they both experienced it. It allowed for more transparency in the relationship and access to here-and-now material to process and increase client awareness.

The therapeutic relationship became an actively engaged role for the counsellor to join. They could assist the client with transferring skills and insights from therapy into the challenges of real-life situations.

The sessions between counsellor and client were still focused on the client with limited and relevant disclosure from the counsellor. However now, the counsellor could be more authentic, aware of their own experience, and sharing in part of the experience with the client where it supported their growth and understanding.

In the experiment of Gestalt Therapy, the counsellor’s role is to model and be an example in the practice of reporting their emotional experience. They support bringing to the surface any underlying dynamics which are out of awareness. The goal is learning by slowing down and deepening experience.

This experimenting provides a new understanding and options for flexible responses between the client and counsellor. Experiments in therapy may be formal or informal, but they are always focused on the present situation with real emotions, needs, and goals. This is how the counsellor supports the client in their role with Gestalt Therapy.

Sources

Wheeler, G., & Axelsson, L. (2015). Gestalt Therapy. Theories of Psychotherapy Series.