Key details
Date| Saturday 30 August 2024, 9.30am–4.30pm
Duration| 1 day
Venue| Elie, Gestalt Centre Training Campus, 27 Royal Parade Parkville
Fee | $280 (includes GST)
Facilitator | Gina Denholm
About this event
Does the idea of working with physical conditions in the therapy room fill you with dread? Do you avoid engaging directly with your client’s fibromyalgia, back pain, migraine or fatigue, believing that you can only address the emotional suffering they produce?
Many psychotherapists are reluctant to address their clients’ physical symptoms or diagnoses, believing them to be beyond the scope of our practice. Yet persistent physical health conditions without clear long-term outcomes are on the rise. If we aspire to working with the whole person in therapy, we need to be ready to engage robustly with physical suffering – and take seriously our role in potential recovery.
What you can expect
This workshop introduces a new paradigm for working with chronic pain and illness, advocating for therapists’ role in helping clients recover from, not just live with, distressing physical symptoms. Through the lenses of modern pain science and Gestalt therapy, participants will explore the meaning of pain, understand why recovery is possible, and experiment with techniques to engage with physical symptoms in the therapeutic process.
Who should attend
This workshop is ideal for:
Psychotherapists and counsellors seeking to expand their scope of practice by addressing physical symptoms in therapy.
Healthcare professionals interested in incorporating psychological approaches to chronic pain and physical health conditions.
Body-focused practitioners such as physiotherapists or somatic therapists, looking to integrate emotional and psychological perspectives into their work.
Students and trainees wishing to develop a holistic understanding of working with the mind-body connection.
Anyone working with clients experiencing chronic pain or persistent physical health challenges hoping to foster recovery and resilience.
About your facilitator
Gina Denholm
Gina is a psychotherapist in private practice in Brunswick West, VIC. She has a special interest in exploring chronic pain and illness through a Gestalt lens. In her practice, she draws on body process and parts work to help people befriend, make meaning of and often recover from physical symptoms in the context of their broader life concerns.
About the Gestalt Centre
The Gestalt Centre is the heart of Melbourne’s Gestalt community. We offer a four-year psychotherapy training program through Gestalt Therapy Australia, staying true to the experiential roots of Gestalt while embracing cutting-edge developments in contemporary Gestalt thinking and practice worldwide.
We also operate ConnectGround, a community-based counselling and psychotherapy clinic. ConnectGround serves as both a training facility for psychotherapists and a provider of low-cost individual and group therapy for clients. The clinic emphasises the therapeutic relationship between client and therapist as a key support for building awareness and adaptability. Psychotherapy interns and volunteers gain valuable hands-on experience, enhancing their skills and professionalism through client work.
