BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy - ECPv6.15.11//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-WR-CALNAME:New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://newyorkgestalt.org X-WR-CALDESC:Events for New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H X-Robots-Tag:noindex X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20240310T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20241103T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20250309T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20251102T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20260308T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20261101T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20270314T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20271107T060000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250928T130000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250928T150000 DTSTAMP:20260411T132546 CREATED:20250806T221547Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250806T221547Z UID:4492-1759064400-1759071600@newyorkgestalt.org SUMMARY:2025-2026 Business Meeting #1 DESCRIPTION: URL:https://newyorkgestalt.org/event/2025-2026-business-meeting-1/ LOCATION:Zoom CATEGORIES:Business Meeting ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://newyorkgestalt.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/biz_meeting_bkgrnd1_light.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251005T130000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251005T150000 DTSTAMP:20260411T132546 CREATED:20250804T190820Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250807T140844Z UID:4305-1759669200-1759676400@newyorkgestalt.org SUMMARY:Chasing Rainbows: In Search of Wonder DESCRIPTION:Presenter: Dan Bloom \nDescription: \nThis workshop opens the 75th-anniversary year of the New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy. It invites us to pause – not just to reflect on our history\, but also to reawaken the very spirit that gave birth to it: the creative aesthetic of contacting\, the surprise of the always-new\, the call of wonder. \nIt feels as if Earth’s rotation has sped up. What once unfolded in its own time now rushes past us. Everything is immediate – devoid of a past\, blind to a future. Impatience overtakes us\, dulling our felt sense of the situation. The time needed to nourish curiosity and dwell in presence is overrun by urgency. \nAnd yet – we sense that wonder is possible. We know life can be more fulfilling. We yearn for it. Even when dulled to the world’s splendors\, we feel the ache of something missing. We are always chasing rainbows – glimpsing their shimmer even when they do not appear. \nContacting – the essential theme of Gestalt therapy – opens us to this shimmer\, to the surprise of the always-new. It is the process of interest and desire\, of sensing and moving\, of feeling and knowing. It is an openness to the unexpected\, to curiosity\, to the aesthetic of wonder. \nTo contact is to take time. To linger. To find the rhythm in which surprise and novelty\, wonder and growth\, can emerge. In the living-present\, we sense\, feel\, move – and are moved. Meaning takes form within the aesthetic dimension of the living-present\, lived-past\, and lived-future. \nFrom this perspective\, we will revisit foundational concepts of Gestalt therapy: the field\, the situation\, the contact boundary\, the sequence of contacting – and\, centrally\, the aesthetic of the contact event itself. \nThese themes will be explored through a combination of didactic presentation\, clinical demonstration\, and small and large group processes – each grounded in our contemporary relational practice. \nBiography: \nDan Bloom\, JD\, LCSW (www.danbloomnyc.com)\, is the president of NYIGT and a psychotherapist\, supervisor\, clinical trainer\, and writer in New York City. He studied with Laura Perls\, Isadore From\, and Richard Kitzler. Dan is guest and adjunct faculty at Gestalt therapy institutes worldwide; he has spoken and given workshops at many international conferences; and he leads webinars in Gestalt therapy and phenomenology. He is also a Fellow of NYIGT\, a past president of IAAGT\, a member of EAGT\, and a co-founder of the International Gestalt Therapy Study Group on Field-Emergent Self and Therapy (www.ig-fest.org). In addition\, he is an associate editor of the Gestalt Review\, a book review editor of Quaderni di Gestalt\, and a member of the Scientific Board of the Gestalt Therapy Book Series. Dan is widely published. URL:https://newyorkgestalt.org/event/chasing-rainbows-in-search-of-wonder/ LOCATION:Zoom CATEGORIES:Presentation ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://newyorkgestalt.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/chasing_rainbows.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251026T130000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251026T150000 DTSTAMP:20260411T132546 CREATED:20250804T213317Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250811T133237Z UID:4347-1761483600-1761490800@newyorkgestalt.org SUMMARY:Martin Buber’s In-Between DESCRIPTION:Presenter: Cornelia Muth \nDescription: \nIn Gestalt therapy\, Martin Buber’s dialogical principle is the guiding model for social interaction between the participants. Its central focus is the personal and intersubjective perceptual event in the present\, which makes this approach phenomenological from a theoretical and clinical perspective. \nBuber’s critical concept of the “in-between” as the meeting place of the I and the Thou is an essential place from where everything reveals itself or becomes clear to our world of experiences. The in-between is the background of contacting without which the mutuality of a healing encounter\, dialogue\, is not possible. This mutuality is at the heart of Buber’s I-Thou meeting in contrast to Emmanuel Levinas’s emphasis on non-mutuality of self-Other dialogue. \nIn this presentation\, I will develop and deepen the idea of Buber’s in-between as background in terms of dialogue in Gestalt therapy. The in-between makes the figure/ground processes of personal\, interpersonal\, and social experiences at the heart of therapeutic dialogue. It is not merely the “third” of dialogue – as background to all experience\, it is intrinsic to contacting’s emergence. \nI will also touch upon Buber’s perspective on the spirit and soul. Buber considered himself neither a real philosopher nor a scholar nor a theologian. Instead\, he saw himself as an atypical person who does not philosophize about but has faith in God’s energy. \nBiography: \nCornelia Muth is a professor of transcultural educational sciences and philosophy at the University of Social Sciences and Arts in Bielefeld\, Germany. She has been a Gestalt educator since 1995. \nHer relevant publications include In-Between!?: A dialogic-phenomenological perspective (2025) and “Buber’s Concept of the Soul” (in: A Companion to Martin Buber\, 2025). URL:https://newyorkgestalt.org/event/bubers-in-between/ LOCATION:Zoom CATEGORIES:Presentation ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://newyorkgestalt.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Martin-Buber-in-Psychanalysis.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251102T130000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251102T150000 DTSTAMP:20260411T132546 CREATED:20250807T032351Z LAST-MODIFIED:20251025T215209Z UID:4498-1762088400-1762095600@newyorkgestalt.org SUMMARY:SPECIAL EVENT: One Year Later DESCRIPTION:Description: \nIt is not easy to accept that it has been one year since Trump was elected as president of the United States. \nOn Sunday\, November 2\, the NYIGT will offer an online space for the community to come together and share what this anniversary means to us\, our clients\, our friends\, our families\, and our nations. \nPlease join us. \nFacilitated by Dan Bloom. URL:https://newyorkgestalt.org/event/one-year-later/ LOCATION:Zoom CATEGORIES:Special Event ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://newyorkgestalt.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/no-king-trump1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251116T130000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251116T150000 DTSTAMP:20260411T132546 CREATED:20250804T222925Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250807T140138Z UID:4378-1763298000-1763305200@newyorkgestalt.org SUMMARY:Standing Tall in Troubled Times: A Gestalt Workshop for Therapists Navigating Crisis DESCRIPTION:Presenters: Charlie Bowman and Peter Cole \nDescription: \nWe aim to share our work with Gestalt therapists who are confronting the shared realities of working in a field increasingly shaped by authoritarianism\, systemic trauma\, and collective overwhelm. Drawing from contemporary Gestalt theory – including Gianni Francesetti’s concept of atmospheres and Miriam Taylor’s framing of trauma and crisis – we will explore how political crisis has infiltrated the therapeutic relationship for many of us and disrupted our embodied presence and relational contact. Rooted in Gestalt therapy’s activist tradition and dialogical stance\, this presentation offers support for metabolizing crisis\, restoring embodied contact\, and reclaiming meaning – not only for clients\, but for therapists and citizens alike. \nSince we live and practice in the U.S.\, the focus of our writing has been on the impact of Trump and Trumpism on our work. However\, in this presentation\, we invite Gestalt therapists from all parts of the world to discuss not just Trump’s impact but also the social and political conditions that you are facing. \nBiographies: \nCharlie Bowman\, MS\, LCSW\, has 40 years of experience as a helping professional and focuses on Gestalt therapy for adults\, couples\, and groups. He is a past president of IAAGT\, the president and senior faculty at the Indianapolis Gestalt Institute\, and a member of NYIGT. Charlie has trained and published extensively. In 2022\, he received IAAGT’s Lifetime Achievement Award for contributions in Gestalt therapy. \nPeter Cole\, LCSW\, is the co-director (along with Daisy Reese) of the Sierra Institute for Contemporary Gestalt Therapy in California and was an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry with the UC Davis School of Medicine for 30 years (now retired). He has also served on the board of IAAGT and as co-convener of the organization’s biennial international conference at Asilomar in 2016. Peter is the co-author of several books\, including New Directions in Gestalt Group Therapy (2017); he also is the editor of The Relational Heart of Gestalt Therapy (2022) and has published numerous articles. URL:https://newyorkgestalt.org/event/standing-tall-in-troubled-times-a-gestalt-workshop-for-therapists-navigating-crisis/ LOCATION:Zoom CATEGORIES:Presentation ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://newyorkgestalt.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/standing_tall.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251207T130000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251207T150000 DTSTAMP:20260411T132546 CREATED:20250805T042833Z LAST-MODIFIED:20251121T034154Z UID:4385-1765112400-1765119600@newyorkgestalt.org SUMMARY:The Impact of Richard Kitzler DESCRIPTION:Presenter: Simone LaVerne \nDescription: \nThis presentation examines the impact that Richard Kitzler (1927–2009)\, a founding member of the New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy\, had on his NYIGT colleagues\, students\, and friends\, and also draws a portrait of how the earlier days of the Institute impacted his own identity and work. It will discuss his relationships with some of those who were a critical part of the NYIGT at its founding (including Fritz and Lore Perls\, and especially Paul Goodman). It will also sketch his relationships with contemporaries of his at the Institute\, such as Patrick Kelley and Karen Humphrey\, who went on to define the next generation at the NYIGT.\n \nUsing source material largely drawn from firsthand interviews with Kitzler’s former colleagues\, students\, and friends\, the presentation will be as much a tribute to who he was and how he impacted people as a study of how he bent the arc of the history and future of the Institute. The second half will draw from Kitzler’s focus on American pragmatist George Herbert Mead\, and culminate in an experiment and discussion that explore how the social environment functions within our work as Gestalt therapy practitioners.\n \nBiography: \nSimone LaVerne is a therapist located in New York City. She received an MA in psychology from The New School for Social Research in 2013. She then completed postgraduate training in Gestalt therapy at Gestalt Associates for Psychotherapy\, graduating with a license in psychoanalysis in 2018 – the same year that she became a member at the NYIGT\, where she continued her training. From there\, Simone went into private practice. In 2021\, she served as the Clinical Director at Identity House\, an all-volunteer organization focused on peer counseling within the LGBTQ+ community in New York City\, which has links that go way back to the NYIGT. Prior to this\, she ran supervision groups for peer counselors there. \nSimone is currently working on a book project about Richard Kitzler and his circle. She is also a practicing visual artist. She was born and raised in New York City\, where she continues to reside with her partner and son.\n  URL:https://newyorkgestalt.org/event/the-impact-of-richard-kitzler/ LOCATION:Zoom CATEGORIES:Presentation ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://newyorkgestalt.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/richard_kitzler_extended.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260111T130000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260111T150000 DTSTAMP:20260411T132546 CREATED:20251230T045511Z LAST-MODIFIED:20251231T041940Z UID:4780-1768136400-1768143600@newyorkgestalt.org SUMMARY:SPECIAL EVENT: One Year and Counting: What Now? DESCRIPTION:Description: \nIt will be a year since Donald Trump began his second presidential term. \nWhat a year it has been… \nPlease join us on Sunday\, January 11\, when we’ll gather as a community to share and process our experiences. \nFacilitated by Dan Bloom. URL:https://newyorkgestalt.org/event/one-year-and-counting-what-now/ LOCATION:Zoom CATEGORIES:Special Event ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://newyorkgestalt.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/DJT_headshot.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260125T130000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260125T150000 DTSTAMP:20260411T132546 CREATED:20250806T221838Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250806T221838Z UID:4494-1769346000-1769353200@newyorkgestalt.org SUMMARY:2025-2026 Business Meeting #2 DESCRIPTION: URL:https://newyorkgestalt.org/event/2025-2026-business-meeting-2/ LOCATION:Zoom CATEGORIES:Business Meeting ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://newyorkgestalt.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/biz_meeting_bkgrnd1_light.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260201T130000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260201T150000 DTSTAMP:20260411T132546 CREATED:20250805T135748Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250806T220032Z UID:4396-1769950800-1769958000@newyorkgestalt.org SUMMARY:The Origins of Gestalt Therapy: Theater\, Bauhaus\, Expressionism\, Dada DESCRIPTION:Presenter: Dimitris Tzachanis \nDescription: \nJoin us for an exciting journey back to the roots of Gestalt therapy! Through a wealth of audiovisual material\, we will immerse ourselves in the zeitgeist of the early 20th century and follow in the footsteps of Fritz Perls\, one of the main founders of Gestalt therapy. We will explore through primary sources the influence that the theater and three important artistic movements – Bauhaus\, Expressionism\, and Dada – played in the development of Gestalt therapy\, and we will reflect on how relevant their ideas are to us today. \nWhile the presentation is theoretical\, to make it more stimulating\, the participants will have at various points the opportunity – if they wish – to interact with the material and share their experience with the group. Αt the end\, there will also be space for questions and answers. \nBiography: \nDimitris Tzachanis\, the founder of Gestalt Synthesis (www.gestaltsynthesis.gr)\, is an accredited psychotherapist by the National Society for Psychotherapy of Greece (NOPG) and a holder of the European Certificate of Psychotherapy. He trained in Gestalt therapy with the Gestalt Institute of San Francisco\, was the head of the institute in Greece\, and is a member of EAGT. He is also an accredited body psychotherapist\, a graduate of the Center for Psychotherapy & Counseling “Wilhelm Reich\,” and a member of the Greek and European Associations of Body Psychotherapy. He has studied social anthropology (BA) at Kent University and psychoanalytic studies (MA) at Brunel University in London. He is working both individually and with groups\, designs and facilitates therapeutic and training seminars\, and is teaching Gestalt therapy at Kethesy. URL:https://newyorkgestalt.org/event/the-origins-of-gestalt-therapy-theater-bauhaus-expressionism-dada/ LOCATION:Zoom CATEGORIES:Presentation ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://newyorkgestalt.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Origins_of_Gestalt_Therapy_Bauhaus.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260208T130000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260208T150000 DTSTAMP:20260411T132546 CREATED:20260127T201403Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260203T050232Z UID:4833-1770555600-1770562800@newyorkgestalt.org SUMMARY:SPECIAL EVENT: ICE Storms in America DESCRIPTION:Description: \nWe’re digging out from all the recent snow…but still dealing with ICE. \nKeith Porter. Renée Good. Alex Pretti. \nGeraldo Lunas Campos. Luis Gustavo Nuñez Cáceres. Luis Beltrán Yáñez-Cruz. \nParady La. Victor Manuel Diaz. Heber Sánchez Dominguez. \nIt’s been a month. (Don’t forget Greenland.) \nWe have a lot to share and process. Please join us on Sunday\, February 8. \nFacilitated by Dan Bloom. \nIllustration by Adam Zygus. URL:https://newyorkgestalt.org/event/ice-storms-in-america/ LOCATION:Zoom CATEGORIES:Special Event ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://newyorkgestalt.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/ICE_Storms.jpeg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260222T130000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260222T150000 DTSTAMP:20260411T132546 CREATED:20250805T142236Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260203T050043Z UID:4392-1771765200-1771772400@newyorkgestalt.org SUMMARY:Situational Perspective in Gestalt Therapy: The Case of Supervision DESCRIPTION:Presenters: Margherita Spagnuolo Lobb\, Rezeda Popova\, and Ekkehard Tenschert \nDescription: \nSupervision is one of the main supporting tools for Gestalt therapy practitioners and students. It is intended to be a basic instrument of growth. On account of its crucial nature\, it needs to be informed by the history\, themes\, and values of our approach. \nWe propose a model of supervision that is faithful to a situational (or field) perspective and includes and supports the excitement (motivation and intentionality) of both supervisee and supervisor. \nGestalt therapy supervision is a complex\, contextualized\, and situated clinical practice aimed at supporting the intentionality of the therapist and the client in their therapeutic meeting. \nFour realms of recognition will be described\, as guidelines for Gestalt supervisors. \nThe proposed main goal of supervision is recognition of the supervisee’s intentionality. This offers a framework for preventing shame\, restoring dignity\, and rehumanizing the moment of encounter. \nThis model represents the reflections after 10 years of work for training programs on supervision. Margherita will present it together with two former students who are now trainers\, Rezeda and Ekkehard. \nBiographies: \nMargherita Spagnuolo Lobb\, PsyD\, is the director of Istituto di Gestalt HCC Italy (Milan\, Siracuse\, Palermo). She has developed some basic clinical concepts of Gestalt therapy\, integrating what she has learned from Isadore From with her experiences with Daniel Stern and other exponents of intersubjectivity and primary relationships\, and with neuroscientists like Vittorio Gallese. She has approached the description of the ground experience of the self (the “polyphonic development of domains”)\, of the intuition of the therapist as a function of the field condition (the “aesthetic relational knowledge”)\, until her recent studies on “the dance of reciprocity” between therapist and client\, as a switch of paradigm needed in our pandemic times. As the director of training programs for Gestalt therapy supervisors for 10 years\, she has studied an aesthetic\, phenomenological\, and field-oriented model of supervision. She is the main editor of the Gestalt Therapy Book Series (Routledge). \nMore about her work: https://www.gestaltitaly.com/margherita-spagnuolo-lobb/ \nRezeda Ravilevna Popova\, a Gestalt therapist\, supervisor\, and researcher\, has expertise in clinical and developmental psychology\, holds a PhD in developmental psychology\, and is a member of EAGT. She is the founder and the director of the Volga Region Institute for Gestalt Therapy (Russia). She is the editor of a Russian-language publication of a number of books on Gestalt therapy and the author of articles. She cooperates with the editorial board of the Gestalt Therapy Book Series (Routledge). \nEkkehard Tenschert is a Gestalt therapist\, trainer\, and supervisor in Vienna\, Austria\, and currently the head of the FSIG/ÖAGG. His most recent publication deals with ethical problems with expelling a trainee from psychotherapy training (British Gestalt Journal 33.2\, 2024). He cooperates with the editorial board of the Gestalt Therapy Book Series (Routledge). URL:https://newyorkgestalt.org/event/situational-perspective-in-gestalt-therapy-the-case-of-supervision/ LOCATION:Zoom CATEGORIES:Presentation ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://newyorkgestalt.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/situational_perspective.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260315T130000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260315T150000 DTSTAMP:20260411T132546 CREATED:20250805T144632Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250805T151406Z UID:4427-1773579600-1773586800@newyorkgestalt.org SUMMARY:Reclaiming Wholeness: A Compassionate/Relational Gestalt Understanding of Trauma and Addiction DESCRIPTION:Presenter: Rafael Cortina \nDescription: \nTrauma and addiction intertwine in complex ways\, fundamentally altering how individuals experience themselves\, their relationships\, and their world. Addiction is the long-term consequence of creative adjustments to painful life circumstances that provide a sense of relief by numbing emotional pain or disconnecting the individual from unbearable experiences. While these adaptations initially serve as vital coping mechanisms in a field lacking safety\, belonging\, and emotional support\, lasting healing requires more than managing symptoms. It calls for relational engagement\, embodied awareness\, and compassionate integration of past experiences within the ever-changing field of relationships and environment. \nGestalt field theory offers an understanding of these challenges. It presents a holistic\, process-oriented perspective that recognizes trauma and addiction as phenomena shaped by the entire web of human experience\, from intimate relationships to broader social systems. Rather than viewing these challenges as isolated personal failures\, this approach examines the complex interplay of interpersonal dynamics\, cultural influences\, and environmental factors. This workshop delves into practical applications of field theory\, demonstrating how shifting our therapeutic lens from individual pathology to the dynamic field can catalyze profound healing and sustainable transformation. \nFocus and Key Topics: \nThis workshop integrates Gestalt relational and field theory to help practitioners support clients moving beyond survival toward authentic connection and integration. We will explore: \nThe Field Perspective on Trauma and Addiction: \n\nTrauma and addiction as field phenomena rather than isolated disorders.\nHow social\, relational\, and cultural forces shape trauma responses and addictive patterns.\nUnderstanding interpersonal and environmental supports/barriers to healing within a client’s lived experience.\n\nCreative Adjustments and Addiction: \n\nAddiction as a functional creative adjustment rather than a pathology.\nHow trauma influences fixed gestalts\, interrupting the fluid contact cycle.\nStrategies to support organic transformation by expanding awareness and choice.\n\nBiography: \nRafael Cortina is a licensed marriage and family therapist in the state of California; he is also a master addiction counselor\, a certified clinical trauma professional\, and a certified Gestalt therapist. As a bilingual therapist (English-Spanish)\, he has worked in Mexico and the United States\, and has more than 20 years of experience working with individuals\, couples\, families\, and groups. He holds a master’s degree in counseling psychology and another in business administration with an emphasis on marketing. Rafael is currently an adjunct faculty member at National University and the acting president of IAAGT.  URL:https://newyorkgestalt.org/event/reclaiming-wholeness-a-compassionate-relational-gestalt-understanding-of-trauma-and-addiction/ LOCATION:Zoom CATEGORIES:Presentation ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://newyorkgestalt.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/reclaiming_wholeness.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260322T130000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260322T150000 DTSTAMP:20260411T132546 CREATED:20260313T152355Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260313T163636Z UID:4895-1774184400-1774191600@newyorkgestalt.org SUMMARY:SPECIAL EVENT: Trump Wages War DESCRIPTION:Description: \nWhat now. Iran? \nWe’ve been gathering since Trump’s election to share and process our thoughts and feelings about the new world order. \nHow has the latest – and frightening – plot twist impacted us as human beings and as therapists? \nIn these confusing times\, you’ve got a community. \nPlease join us on Sunday\, March 22. \nFacilitated by Yaël Lewin. URL:https://newyorkgestalt.org/event/special-event-trump-wages-war/ LOCATION:Zoom CATEGORIES:Special Event ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://newyorkgestalt.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/trump_wages_war_032226.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260412T130000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260412T150000 DTSTAMP:20260411T132546 CREATED:20250805T150906Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260410T192159Z UID:4433-1775998800-1776006000@newyorkgestalt.org SUMMARY:Gestalt as an Art DESCRIPTION:Register\n  \n \n \n \n \n \n Register here\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Sunday\, April 12\, 2026 - Gestalt as an ArtPlease enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.Name *FirstLastEmail *I am a *NYIGT MemberGuest \n out am this\n \n \n My location *How did you find out about this event? *What interests you about this event? *Comment or messageSubmit \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \nDescription: \nPlease join us for a special event inspired by the late Tine van Wijk (1936–2025)\, who was supposed to share her journey of creative expression with the NYIGT community on this day. \nWe will begin with remembrances by colleagues in tribute to Tine’s accomplishments and generous artistic spirit. Then\, we will honor her wishes for this occasion by exploring our own creative process\, informed by our experiences and by Gestalt therapy. \nThe event will include opportunities for writing and drawing. Please bring paper\, a pen\, and whatever art supplies you like. \nWe welcome everyone – whether you knew Tine or not – to celebrate her life and the joy of creativity! \n \nBiography: \nTine was born in 1936 in Amsterdam and called herself a war child. After being an editor of women’s\, children’s\, and family magazines for 30 years\, she started in 1988 Gestalt Center De Walvis/The Whale. Since then\, she had been leading ongoing therapy\, writing\, and training groups. \nShe was a member of the Dutch EAGT\, of IAAGT\, and of NYIGT. She worked in Russia and Ukraine many times and presented at Gestalt conferences in the UK\, the USA\, Mexico\, and Canada. In 2005\, Tine initiated and co-created a regional AAGT conference in Amsterdam. She also published three books in Dutch and one in English\, which was translated into Russian\, Process Writing to C. \nFor Tine\, Gestalt therapy and artistic expression went hand in hand. She explained\, “By practicing Gestalt\, I am opening more and more creativity by writing\, drawing\, painting\, creating and reciting poems\, making photos and videos\, and sounding words I have written.” \nPhoto by Sebastiaan van Wijk URL:https://newyorkgestalt.org/event/gestalt-as-an-art/ LOCATION:Zoom CATEGORIES:Presentation ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://newyorkgestalt.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/gestalt_as_art.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260503T130000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260503T150000 DTSTAMP:20260411T132546 CREATED:20250805T152255Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250811T133313Z UID:4446-1777813200-1777820400@newyorkgestalt.org SUMMARY:From the Edges of Experience to the Center of Relationship DESCRIPTION:Register\n  \n \n \n \n \n \n Register here\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Sunday\, May 3\, 2026 - From the Edges of Experience to the Center of RelationshipPlease enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.Name *FirstLast \n or Email Comment\n \n \n Email *I am a *NYIGT MemberGuestMy location *How did you find out about this event? *What interests you about this event? *Comment or messageSubmit \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Presenter: Perry Klepner \nDescription: \nGestalt therapy\, as originally presented in PHG and more recently developed\, is an extraordinary contribution to how we can understand human psychological coherence and conduct psychotherapy. This presentation will consider its holistic and phenomenal qualities by exploring the experiences of attendees as our emergent NYIGT community\, created and discovered\, emerging from our personal and collegial synergy. It will include conceptual and experiential segments and discussion to explore awareness and contact\, attending to our experience of differences and commonalities such as new/old\, local/distant\, student/teacher\, practice/theory\, author/reader\, participant/observer\, fellow/member/associate – that is\, our community and our situation.\n \nThe exploration is inspired by my long-term NYIGT membership and regard for the age-old human endeavor to conceptualize and navigate our individual\, personal\, and shared social and communal experience through the realms of our discontents\, desires\, hopes\, ambitions\, happiness\, grief\, anger\, common and eccentric interests\, successes\, etc. Additionally\, by the epidemic disturbances\, divisions\, and disharmonies of our everyday world as well as by the emphasis on individualized experience versus the unitary view of the organism/environment field or a Sanskrit phrase for universal interconnection\, “What is out there is in here\, and what is in here is out there.”\n \nAlso\, by the words of Rainer Marie Rilke:\n \nAh\, not to be cut off\,\nnot through the slightest partition\nshut out from the law of the stars.\nThe inner – what is it?\nif not the intensified sky\,\nhurled through with birds and deep\nwith the winds of homecoming.\n \nBiography: \nPerry Klepner\, LCSW\, has been a psychotherapist in private practice in New York City and Kingston\, NY\, since 1977. He provides supervision and individual and couples therapy. For over three years\, starting in April 2022\, he has facilitated a support group for Ukrainian Gestalt therapists and currently is facilitating six line-by-line study groups of Gestalt Therapy by Fritz Perls\, Ralph Hefferline\, and Paul Goodman. He trained with Laura Perls\, Isadore From\, and Richard Kitzler at NYIGT\, where he is a past president (1993–95) and Fellow. He has authored articles and led workshops on Gestalt therapy at numerous conferences. URL:https://newyorkgestalt.org/event/from-the-edges-of-experience-to-the-center-of-relationship/ LOCATION:Zoom CATEGORIES:Presentation ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://newyorkgestalt.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/edges_of_experience.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260614T130000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260614T150000 DTSTAMP:20260411T132546 CREATED:20250806T221958Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250806T221958Z UID:4496-1781442000-1781449200@newyorkgestalt.org SUMMARY:2025-2026 Business Meeting #3 DESCRIPTION: URL:https://newyorkgestalt.org/event/2025-2026-business-meeting-3/ LOCATION:Zoom CATEGORIES:Business Meeting ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://newyorkgestalt.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/biz_meeting_bkgrnd1_light.jpg END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR