Presenter: Iris Fodor
Description:
Too often, therapeutic writing focuses on case histories written by the therapist about the client. The focus of this workshop will be on writing about the impact of relational therapeutic work on the therapist. Drawing on my experience in workshops, utilizing narrative theory, memoir, and experiential writing for working with people with diverse life experiences, I will present techniques for therapists to utilize experiential writing as an extension of Gestalt therapeutic work.
As therapists, we need to come to terms with our life experience, including our losses, our stories, and their meaning. Therapeutic work often serves as a catalyst for our ongoing processing of our own life experience.
In the experiential segment of the workshop, we will do personal writing, focused on our experience of being a therapist. We will read some of the writing in the group and discuss how the showing, writing, telling, and letting others see, hear, and respond grounds our understanding of ourselves and our work as Gestalt therapists.
Biography:
Iris Fodor is a professor emerita in the Department of Applied Psychology at New York University. She has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and a certificate in creative writing from New Directions. She is a Gestalt psychotherapist known for her teaching, workshops, and writings about feminism, women’s mental health, mindfulness, and integrative psychotherapy. Born in the Bronx, Iris is a lifelong social activist and is also a photographer. She has traveled, taught, and done workshops worldwide. She has also participated in digital storytelling projects with adolescents from diverse cultures in India, Peru, and South Africa. Her recent work focuses on memoir and experiential writing for therapists. She lives in New York City and Woodstock, New York.
