Key details
Date | Thursday 2 April, 2026
Time | 6.30pm - 8:30pm
Where | Online
Cost | $45 VAGP members. $55 non-members
Facilitator | Aladdin Jones
About this event
This session offers an experience of Mindful Somatic Ecotherapy - right where you are.
Mindful Somatic Ecotherapy draws on Hakomi Mindful Somatic psychotherapy and other practices for deepening connection such as Zen, Goethean observation and social sculpture, Joanna Macy’s Work that Reconnects, mirroring and re-connecting with our own intuitive bodily (phenomenological) knowing.
What will participants gain from this workshop?
You’ll be invited to slow down, breathe deeply, listen with all your senses, and rediscover your place in the great web of life. This two-hour introductory workshop will include:
- a guided experience of mindful somatic awareness
- an offering to take time to connect with an aspect of the wild nature - this may be in a park or in your backyard
- exploring ways to include conversations with nature in your therapeutic practice, bringing the ‘wild’ into your therapy work
- small-group sharing and reflections
- tapping into your imaginative and creative responses.
What do participants need for this workshop?
- Access to a place of nature that supports this experience. You may also choose to go indoors during the interactive periods.
- A phone, laptop, or ipad (fully charged) with internet access - there will also be some offline periods.
- Some art materials, such as a pad, and pencil or pen. If you have pastels, drawing pencils, or other materials, you are welcome to use those too.
About your facilitator
Aladdin Jones
As a certified Hakomi (somatic) psychotherapist and teacher, Aladdin has taught on the Mindful Somatic (Hakomi) Professional Skills Training and has offered workshops in Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, and New Zealand over the past 15 years. He trained and qualified as a psychotherapist in 2006 and has since worked in NGOs, community health, and private practice, both as a therapist and in clinical supervision. Other qualifications and roles include family therapy and facilitation of group work across family violence, parenting programs, mental health, schools, and with youth at risk.
Aladdin holds a Master’s degree in Education and Social Ecology, with a specialisation in Ecopsychology. He has developed ecotherapeutic practices, including Mindful Somatic Ecotherapy, in New Zealand and Australia, and has an undergraduate background in environmental sciences and biodynamic agriculture.
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.
Refund policy
Refunds are available up to 7 days before the event.
Please note:
In the unlikely event that this workshop is cancelled or postponed, registration fees will be fully refunded. Please note that the organisers are not responsible for any travel, accommodation, or other costs incurred by participants.
