Queering Gestalt Therapy

The first peer-reviewed book of its kind, this important volume addresses a current gap in the field of gestalt therapy: that the practice-and psychotherapy more broadly-still suffers from pervasive hetero- and cis-normativity. This book offers gestalt-therapy-based research and training material on gender, sex, and relationship diversity (GSRD), including chapters on a variety of GSRD issues and how therapists can become more GSRD-sensitive. The contributors position themselves across the whole spectrum of GSRD and offer their voices as an invitation to further queer the gestalt community with diverse content ranging from academic, research-oriented pieces to experiential, reflective perspectives. Featured chapters explore topics including gender-radical clients, sex and sexuality, relationship diversity, integrating GSRD and gestalt therapy, and addressing heteronormativity in gestalt therapy training. Queering Gestalt Therapy is for everyone who is interested in gender, sex, and relationship diversity, especially as they relate to gestalt therapy practice. This book will be especially useful for therapists, supervisors, coaches, and students of gestalt therapy.

Ayhan Alman is a queer psychotherapist with a Muslim, Middle Eastern context, and western upbringing. He trained as a gestalt psychotherapist at Metanoia Institute in London. Therapeutically, he is interested in how prejudice and bias impacts on the mental health of marginalised communities. John Gillespie is a gestalt therapist based in London. He is founding director of New Gestalt Voices and longstanding editor of the NGV International Journal. He works as a freelance consultant in the charity/public sectors, combining this with low cost therapy work. Vikram Kolmannskog, Dr.Philos., is a queer-of-colour professor, gestalt therapist, and writer. He trained at, and currently works as a professor at, the Norwegian Gestalt Institute. In addition, he has a private therapy and supervision practice near Oslo and offers training both nationally and internationally. He is the author of several books, including The Empty Chair: Tales from Gestalt Therapy (Routledge, 2018).

Welcome Everyone 1. Understanding Gender Radical Clients 2. Gender-identification 3. Holding Uncertainty so that it can be Thought About: Relational Gestalt Therapy with Gender Creative Children 4. The Drag and Queer Years as a Means of Developing a Therapeutic Self: Bringing Street Work in the Office 5. Experiment and Phenomenology in Treating Gender Dysphoria 6. 'Selfish and Destructive': Where does the late-in-life lesbian seek therapeutic support? 7. A Gay Son and His Dying Straight Dad: An Account of Ambiguous Loss and the Embodiment of Homophobia 8. Activism and Therapy 9. Compulsive Sexual Behaviours: Moving Beyond the Frontiers of Addiction Thinking 10. Queering Relationships 11. LGBTI in Rural Ireland: Secret Lives Creatively Lived 12. Gender, Sexuality and Relationship Diversity (GSRD) Sensitive Gestalt Psychotherapy 13. 'I assumed that it was a man she was in love with': Heteronormativity and Queer Experimentation in Gestalt Therapy Training