RGT
Relational Gestalt Therapy Certification
IORT is the pioneer of Relational Gestalt Therapy (RGT) training in India, our programs are conceived by us to support the trainees in the essential awareness, knowledge, skills and competencies that we consider are needed for the practice of RGT. To become proficient in RGT, many years of study and practice are required. The duration and training needed to prepare for certification varies for each trainee. We value your commitment to train with us and we will do our best to support this process based on individual learning goals and styles.
You are welcome to join our three-day intensive weekend for the introductory experience to RGT and the six-month training in RGT for a deeper immersive experience. Based on this we can take a decision on your registration for the advance level training in RGT, that takes around four years. For those who are keen on this long-term training and completion, we offer a comprehensive assessment process. Completion of the requirements lead to certification as a gestalt therapist from IORT. To register for the advance level training, completion of the three-day workshop and six-month training is mandatory.
RGT Certification Process
Certification by IORT is given after the trainee has passed a sequence of examinations testing the trainee’s theoretical and clinical knowledge and ability to incorporate this in their practice. Certification requires a minimum of 480 hours of training (roughly four years). Additionally, 100 hours of personal therapy and 100 hours of individual gestalt supervision are required. Mandated hours do not assure readiness for examination.
Training Hours
Personal Therapy Hours
Individual Supervision Hours
A trainee’s readiness for certification will be endorsed by the faculty based on the trainee’s demonstrated clinical competency in RGT through practice work and verbalisation of theory during the training. This will require practicing with one’s peers, self-evaluation, capacity to give and receive feedback and live supervision by faculty.
Before beginning the certification process, trainees are expected to have a mastery of the basic theory underlying gestalt therapy and other important psychotherapy schools. A Postgraduate degree in Psychology is mandated. Examinations are specifically created to test awareness, knowledge, skill and competency in articulating and applying the below concepts
Understanding
Development of Relationality: Important Threads in Psychoanalytic School
Object Relations
Self-Psychology
Post Freudians: Otto Kernberg and James Masterson
Intersubjective School
Field Theory
Phenomenology
Dialogic Existentialism
Important Concepts in GT
Gestalt Cycle of Experience
Paradoxical Theory of Change
Figure/ Ground
Organism/Environment Field
Contact and Awareness
Organismic Self-Regulation
Disruptions in Contact Boundary
Character Styles
Shame
Process Analysis
Familiarity
History of gestalt therapy
Gestalt psychology
Existential and Humanistic thinking
Embodied experiences and trauma
Creative adjustment
Experimentation
Group therapy and process
An understanding of genetics, environment and culture in personality formation
Assessment and diagnosis in gestalt therapy
Indian culture and relevance of GT
Examination
Please note that the exam can be given once a year given that the faculty have restricted time. If you do not clear any part of the exam, you can retake it. In cases where any trainee requires additional support to clear the exams, the faculty is committed to helping the trainee as much as possible to get ready to retake the exam.
1.
A six-hour, take-home closed book written examination designed to assess the depth and breadth of the trainee’s understanding of theory as well as ability to work with and relate the concepts to each other and to clinical practice.
2.
A clinical examination in which the trainee will be required to demonstrate their clinical judgment. The trainee will have a choice between 3 different formats as described below:
A live demonstration with other trainee(s) while being observed by peers and the faculty team.
A written case study that demonstrates both clinical knowledge and the ability to apply it. The format for this will be provided by the faculty.
An audio recording and written analysis of a session with a current client. The format for this will be provided by the faculty.
3.
The oral examination consists of a meeting with two faculty members for 90 minutes. The oral exam questions will assess the candidate’s ability to articulate theory, its application to clinical practice and to engage in a theoretical dialogue with faculty. The questions may include follow-up questions from the written and clinical examinations as well as reflecting on the trainee’s training and certification experience.
Recommended Reading List
- Cole, P. (Ed.). (2022). The Relational Heart of Gestalt Therapy: Contemporary Perspectives. Routledge.
- Hycner, R. & Jacobs, L. (1996). The healing relationship in Gestalt therapy: a dialogic-self psychological approach. Highland, NY: Gestalt Journal Press.
- Jacobs, L. & Hycner, R. (Eds.). (2009). Relational approaches in gestalt therapy. New York: GestaltPress/Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
- Kepner, J. I. (1983). Body Process: A Gestalt approach to working with the body in psychotherapy. Cambridge, MA: Gestalt Press/The Analytic Press.
- Latner, J. (1983). This is the speed of light: Field and systems theories in Gestalt therapy. The Gestalt Journal, 6(2), 71-90.
- Lee, R. & Wheeler, G. (1996). The voice of shame: Silence & connection in psychotherapy. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
- McConville, M. (2001). Let the straw man speak: Husserl’s Phenomenology in Context. Gestalt Review, 5(3), 195-204
- McWilliams, N. (2005). Preserving Our Humanity as Therapists. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 42(2), 139–151. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-3204.42.2.139
- Orange, D. M. (2011). The Suffering Stranger: Hermeneutics for everyday clinical practice. Routledge.
- Parlett, M. (1991). Reflections on field theory. The British Gestalt Journal, 1, 69-81.
- Perls, F., Hefferline, R. & Goodman, P. (1994/1951). Gestalt therapy: excitement and growth in the human personality. New York: The Gestalt Journal Press. (originally published 1951).
- Polster, E and Polster, M. (1999). From the Radical Center: The Heart of Gestalt Therapy. Cambridge, MA: The Gestalt Institute of Cleveland Press.
- Schulz, F. (2013). In dialogue with roots and shoots of gestalt therapy field theory: Historical and theoretical developments. Gestalt Journal of Australia and New Zealand, 10(1), 24-47.
- Staemmler, F. (2006). A Babylonian Confusion?: On the Uses and Meanings of the TermField’. British Gestalt Journal, 15(2), 64.
- Yontef, G. M. (1993). Awareness, dialogue & process. Highland, NY: The Gestalt Journal Press.
- Ammanath, V. (2023). Relational Gestalt Therapy in India: A Guide to Group Practice. Taylor & Francis.
Recommended Additional Reading
- Bar-Yoseph, T. L. (Ed.). (2005). The bridge: Dialogues across cultures. Gestalt Institute Press.
- Frank, R. & La Barre, F. (2010). The first year and the rest of your life: movement, development and psychotherapeutic change. New York, NY: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group.
- McWilliams, N. (2011). Psychoanalytic diagnosis: Understanding personality structure in the clinical process. Guilford Press.
- Polsters, E. & Polster, M. (1974). Gestalt therapy integrated. Highland, NY: The Gestalt Journal Press.
- Spinelli, E. (1989). The interpreted world: An introduction to phenomenological psychology. London: Sage Publications.
- Stolorow, R., D. Ph.D. (2013) Intersubjective-Systems Theory: A Phenomenological-Contextualist Psychoanalytic Perspective, Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 23:4, 383-389, DOI: 10.1080/10481885.2013.810486
- Wheeler, G. and Ullman (Eds.). (2009). CoCreating the field: intention and practice in the age of complexity (evolution of gestalt). Gestalt Press/Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group.