Developing skills of being effortless - Advanced Workshops
Developing your Gestalt knowledge and skill to an advanced level
When people communicate well - work is done more efficiently. Gestalt is a dynamic approach that focuses on maximising the quality and effectiveness of relationships through clarifying how our emotions block or enhance that communication.
This is specifically important in the Coach/Client relationship where the emphasis is on bringing discussions ‘about’ the client’s situation into the room so that the coach can observe and comment on quality of the interaction in the ‘Here & Now’.
Gestalt also has a fundamentally different approach to Change based on the belief that by ‘being yourself fully’ change will occur. Strangely there is no effort involved, but it does require courage and willingness to explore who you really are!
In the Foundation Programme we introduced and practiced these elements and this is the opportunity to deepen your knowledge, experience, and practice. You will have experimented with Gestalt interventions and most likely had some very validating experiences and other times it just didn’t work and you didn’t know why.
Well done for experimenting and trying out a new approach, now’s the time to understand why those interventions did and didn’t work so you build more confidence and fluidity into your practice when using Gestalt philosophy and skills.
Advanced Gestalt Coaching Skills Workshops
You can take one or two workshops to extend your experience in a specific area or the whole series to give you a comprehensive understanding of the Gestalt Coaching approach.
To enhance your experience and learning you may wish to join the Supervision Groups in parallel
I have designed a series of 5x4-half day and 2x2-day workshops that deepens the ground we touched on in the Foundation Programme and adds new topics to expand your repertoire of Gestalt skills.
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Use of Self & Somatic Resonance
Creative Experimentation
Gestalt Cycle & Interruptions
Polarities and Projections
Tango, Gestalt & Coaching
Signature Presence
Team and group facilitation
Learning Context
As with the Foundation, the learning context has the same elements, but given everyone will have undertaken that programme there is a higher degree of challenge and learning in each workshop.
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Taking this work to the next step requires a higher degree of personal commitment and self-disclosure. Each workshop will have a new configuration of participants. Some will be ‘regulars’ who are also undertaking the full Diploma Programme, others will be joining for just one/two topics. We will therefore spend time preparing the ground through introductions, contracting, boundary setting and discussing the value and impact of taking personal and practitioner risks. We’ll reference your experience in the Foundation Programme and what you learned there and on other workshops.
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I will provide the intellectual framing for each workshop through:
• Pre-workshop webinar and coaching demonstration
• Slides to support the theory presentation
• Theoretical discussion of coaching examples
• Constant opportunity for Q&A
This establishes a sound cognitive structure for understanding our experiential work.
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As before, there will be some exercises to illustrate and bring to life the theoretical material in a very focused and specific way. This is a further opportunity to gain personal insights and learning as well as providing interventions for skills practice
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Before each coaching practice session I’ll demonstrate with one participant how the specific intervention skills relating to the topic work in this practice session. You then have the theoretical framing and opportunity to practice specific skills.
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Transferring all the above into focused coaching practice with a live participant client is the ultimate goal. Experimenting in creating interventions specific to the topic of the workshop and using your internal experiences as the coach with your coachee is a key to the value of the workshop. Throughout all Gestalt practice you will be encouraged to discover the power and impact of really ‘trusting the process’. There will be a faculty member rotating round the practice pairs to give support and feedback.
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A key part of the learning process is reflection - so there is ample time to share confusions and insights through discussion and feedback – linking together practice, personal experience, and theory.
STRUCTURE OF THE Workshops
Limited to 18 participants to give optimal learning time with John
The virtual format is similar to the Foundation and consists of:
1. Plenary group for presentation and discussion of theoretical material
2. Breakout Pairs and Trios for experiential exercises
3. Skills Practice breakout pairs of Coach/Coachee (& sometimes Observer) with John rotating round providing feedback.
You will be familiar with the value of the virtual format both in terms of experience and efficiency. We expect to generate the level of intensity and fun that happened in the Foundation programme.
Virtual workshops held via zoom over 4 days from 09:00am – 12.30pm UK which work well for time zones East of UK. Additional workshops for the Americas time zones can be arranged.
We expect a range of nationalities which adds a cultural dynamic to the learning.
Face to Face workshops in London, 2 consecutive days (see specific times) with additional structural elements to take advantage of the physical connection
All Workshops and Webinars will be conducted in the English Language – with participants encouraged to use their native tongue when needed.
Signature Presence
Five ways to improve your confidence and style
dates: 2025
TBC
9.00 - 12.30 UK daily
FEE: £900
This workshop is exploring how you ‘show up’ in life and as a coach. How to you make the most of who you are in any given context. It may mean you become the centre of attention or quietly sit back – either way you are effortless and content in your relationships.
I’ve broken this down into five components and over the workshop we’ll explore each one in detail with reference to your coaching style and how you can enhance your signature presence.
· Context for the relationship
· Communication style
· Capability and credibility
· Confidence in self
· Centred and being present
Use of Self
Somatic Resonance
Parallel Process
Gestalt Dialogue
dates 2024:
tues 30th april/thurs 2nd may/tues 14th may & tues 21st may
9.00 - 12.30 UK daily
FEE: £900
This workshop is an opportunity to see how you can take your coaching practice to the next level. Self as Instrument of Change is a well-used term in coaching today. However, are you able to practice this effectively and with confidence? If not, then this workshop, which builds on the Foundation programme, develops these specific skills.
Dialogue it is at the heart of Gestalt coaching practice. We need to use our senses, cognition, body and emotions as a way of truly engaging in this level of coaching dialogue. As you discovered on the Foundation Programme, disclosing what is happening to you in the relationship is a powerful and fruitful intervention. We discussed, how this flies in the face of traditional performance coaching because it invites you, the coach, to be fully and personally involved - but with awareness of boundaries.
In my book Fertile Void Ch 7 you can read about Somatic Resonance, the term I coined to describe the physical, ‘gut’ or intuitive reaction we have when we are open to the other and resonate on to their emotional experience. In the workshop I’ll cover two other other areas of resonance
1. Perceptual Resonance - what we see & hear
2. Cognitive Resonance - our thoughts, opinions, hypotheses
Another area we’ll cover is Parallel Process which is a more generic and systemic concept to describe a similar process to Somatic Resonance. Drawing on the notion of Field Theory where we are all interconnected - we focus on what is happening to us/our coachee as a replication of the dynamics in the Field of the coachee. Once you get the hang of using Parallel Process, it becomes a powerful intervention for building awareness of what is happening in the System.
A short article on the Gestalt theoretical position for Use of Self is also available to support the workshop
Creative Experimentation
Using:
Art
Pictures
Metaphor
Movement
Voice
Dates 2024:
july - thurs 4th/tues 9th/tues 16th & tues 23rd
9.00 - 12.30 UK daily
FEE: £900
An experiment is basically an activity or exercise that focuses the coachee on a specific area of awareness to develop insight and change.
The skill of a Gestalt Coach is being able to create experiments and pitch them at the right level of intensity to take the coachee into challenging but safe arenas to learn new ways of being. We call this a ‘safe emergency’.
On the workshop I’ll explain the four levels of intensity and how to identify when and which one to use.
We’ll also explore creative mediums to enhance the experiment and identify how/when to use them.
What you’ll discover is how to make the session fun for yourself and the coachee while simultaneously working at a profound and intimate level
Polarities and Projections
Classic Empty Chair Experiment
Topdog/Underdog internal dialogue
Dreams
Dates:
SEPTEMBER 2024 - MON 23/TUES 24 & OCTOBER TUES 8/TUES 15
9.00 - 12.30 UK daily
Fee: £900
An essential component of Gestalt, is understanding and experiencing the breadth of our ability to respond to the every changing world around us. Our relationships are depleted when we limit our contact through habitual and safe responses. We therefore need to explore the polarities in our personality so we have choice and can be creative in the way we engage to live a more vibrant and satisfying life.
We covered the classic Empty Chair technique on the last day of the Foundation Programme. You had a taste of how powerful and effective it can be when used in the correct way but it requires the subtleties of the technique to be acknowledged and followed so it work every time. In this module you will embed those skills.
The Empty Chair can be used in two ways,
To find reconciliation in a fraught relationship with another as we did on the Foundation Programme
To convert the internal destructive Topdog/Underdog row in your head to a meaningful conversation.
We’ll cover both perspectives and how/when to use them.
‘Dreams, like metaphors can be used as another form of Projection of how we are engaging in the world. So we’ll use dreams and metaphors as a way of moving beyond the surface explanation to find the deeper and more profound routes to undo our projections.
Gestalt Cycle & Interruptions
Projection
Retroflection
Deflection
Introjection
Confluence
dates 2024:
november - Mon 4/tues 5/fri 29 & thurs 12 december
9.00 - 12.30 UK daily
Fee: £900
Following on from the Foundation programme where we touched on the Gestalt Cycle of Contact and Withdrawal we will go into this much greater depth and focus on the five Interruptions.
The Gestalt Cycle of Experience maps out the route we go through as we engage with another person or the world at large. It has been broken into a number of steps with titles but these are not as important as having a clear experience of the real delight of the Contact/Withdrawal flow.
The primary focus is then on the internal tension we create when we block that flow. Those blockages we call ‘Interruptions’ (rather than resistance) which are the habitual and unaware patterns that leave us unsatisfied and incomplete. Gestalt coaching provides a language and framework for us to create interventions that undo those interruptions ie. ‘unblock’ the flow.
Tango, Gestalt & Coaching
Dates:
December 2024 - To be confirmed
Fee: £900
This workshop will be fun, practical and engaging as well as challenging and personally insightful.
I outline the theoretical and philosophical link between Tango, Gestalt and Coaching. Then through a series of practical exercises, you will have the opportunity to really experience the essence of leading and following and the application to your coaching or leadership style. You will be able to take on both leader and follower roles irrespective of gender.
In addition to Gestalt Coaching I will draw on theories, methodologies and practices from:
Inner Game of sport, as created by Tim Gallwey
Argentine Tango structure and technique
Body awareness approaches like Yoga and Pilates
Emotional Intelligence
Visualisation and Mindfulness
By the end of the two days everyone - irrespective of their preconceived ideas about dancing, will be capable of executing basic Tango moves. Those who interested can come with me to a ‘Milonga’ on Saturday evening.
booking
workshop Series Discount
Fees:
Per workshop £900
Book 3 or more Workshops 35% discount
No Risk Guarantee
Payment terms available
As we know from coaching, the greatest benefit comes from on-going sustainable learning - so, to support you in signing up for a series of workshops I am offering a 25% discount if you book 3 or more. Similar discounts are available if you book Supervision and/or Coaching in parallel.
In addition I believe it’s crucial that
I explain fully what’s involved on each workshop
That I check it is suitable for you to join before you sign up
That by agreeing to you joining a workshop or Diploma programme I take responsibility for delivering on the expectations I’ve set.
If you feel that I am not meeting those expectations and after feedback, I cannot make appropriate adjustments then I guarantee to refund your fee for the workshop or proportion of the Diploma outstanding.
While you are expected to take personal risks on the workshops you don’t have to take financial risks as well!
