Online Supervision
Online supervision for individual and group Gestalt psychotherapy
I offer online individual and group supervision for Gestalt psychotherapists. I currently have openings in my ongoing online supervision groups and available individual hours.
My supervisory work is grounded in a field-emergent, phenomenological, and relational understanding of Gestalt therapy, with sustained attention to clinical process, ethics, and the lived situation of both therapist and client.
I am an EAGT-accredited supervisor.
New supervision groups are in formation.
Online Seminar
Advanced Phenomenology and Gestalt Therapy
This advanced webinar deepens and extends the work of the introductory phenomenology seminar.
It is open to previous participants, or, by consultation, to clinicians already familiar with phenomenology and Gestalt therapy concepts.
Rather than following a fixed syllabus, the seminar evolves in response to the group’s interests and questions. Concepts from previous webinars are revisited and further developed as new insights emerge from the shared exploration.
Readings include both foundational texts and new material selected in response to the group’s emerging needs.
The seminar meets monthly for 8 90-minute meetings.
Readings are downloadable. Each meeting is recorded for future viewing.
The fee is 800 USD.
Online Seminar
Introduction to Phenomenology for Gestalt Therapists
This webinar introduces phenomenology as the philosophical and methodological ground of Gestalt therapy, understood as already implicit in Gestalt clinical work. The seminar treats Gestalt therapy itself as a form of clinical phenomenology, and asks what follows when this claim is taken seriously.
The webinar moves beyond orientation and overview to examine how phenomenological concepts actively shape clinical perception, therapeutic judgment, and ethical responsiveness. Participants are invited to consider how phenomenology informs the way figures emerge, how meaning takes shape over time, and how the therapist’s presence is implicated in the unfolding clinical situation.
Over the months, the webinar engages in sustained dialogue with selected major phenomenological thinkers, including Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Emmanuel Levinas, and Bernhard Waldenfels. Rather than surveying their ideas descriptively, we work with them as conceptual resources for clarifying core Gestalt concerns such as intentionality, embodiment, temporality, relationality, dialogue, responsivity, and the ethical dimension of psychotherapy
Topics include the phenomenological method, intentionality, temporality, lived-experience, the lived body, the lifeworld, intersubjectivity, being-in-the-world, the other, responsivity, and ethics. Particular attention is given to how these dimensions are disclosed in the moment-to-moment process of therapy.
Throughout the webinar, theoretical work is continually applied to concrete clinical situations. The webinar aims to refine clinical seeing, deepen phenomenological listening, and support a more responsive and ethically attuned practice.
Readings are downloadable. Each meeting is recorded for future viewing.
This webinar consists of 8 monthly, 90-minute meetings.
Readings are downloadable. Each meeting is recorded for future viewing
The fee is 800 USD.
Online Seminar
A Brief Introduction fo Phenomenology and Gestalt Therapy
This shorter webinar is intended for clinicians seeking an accessible introduction to the general themes and philosophical influences shaping Gestalt therapy and its phenomenological orientation.
The focus is on contemporary Gestalt clinical practice, understood as a form of clinical phenomenology. We examine how our everyday therapeutic work is already phenomenology-in-practice, and how it deepens when key phenomenological concepts are made explicit rather than left implicit.
The seminar includes a brief and focused exploration of the relevance of Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty as thinkers whose ideas illuminate central dimensions of our clinical work. We see how our key concepts (for example, field, organism-environment, contacting, and self) are enriched by ideas such as intentionality, lived experience, embodiment, temporality, lifeworld, and being-in-the-world.
The emphasis throughout is on clarity and clinical relevance rather than on the complexity of phenomenology. This offering is for clinicians seeking a conceptual map of the relationship between phenomenology and Gestalt therapy.
This webinar consists of 4 90-minute meetings.
Readings are downloadable. Each meeting is recorded for future viewing.
The fee is 400 USD.
“Chasing Rainbows: In Search of Wonder in Gestalt Therapy,” Oct 5, 2025
“Skulls and Skeletons: the Dead and the Living as Support for Contacting,” Nov 17, 2019, NYC.
Gestalt Associates for Gestalt Therapy (GATLA)’s summer residential training program in Serock, Poland
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor.
New York State Licensed Clinical Social Worker
Board Certified Diplomate in Clinical Social Work, NYS Society of Clinical Social Work
Attorney-at-Law, New York State (no longer in practice)
Masters in Social Work, New York University
Juris Doctor, New York University
Training and supervision as a gestalt therapist with Laura Perls, Isadore From, Richard Kitzler, and Patrick Kelley, New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy
Phenomenology and hermeneutic seminars with Donna Orange
EAGT Accredited Supervisor
Fellow, New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy
Member, Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy
Full Member, Supervisor, European Association for Gestalt Therapy
Member, Society for Existential and Phenomenological Philosophy
Co-founder of the International Gestalt Therapy Study Group on Field-Emergent Self and Therapy (IG-FEST.org)
President, New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy, 2023-
Conference Planning Committee of the AAGT/EAGT Conference, 2016
Steering Committee, Psychology and the Other Conference, 2015 – present
President, Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy, 2008 – 2010
Vice-President, Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy, 2006 – 2008
President (two terms), New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy, 2001 – 2005
Clinical Director, Identity House, New York, 1982 – 1983
Independent Trainer
Adjunct Faculty:
- Center for Somatic Studies, New York, NY
- Gestalt Associates of New York
- The Gestalt Center of New York
Visiting Faculty:
Editor-in-chief, Studies in Gestalt Therapy: Dialogical Bridges
Associate Editor, Gestalt Review
Book Review Co-editor and English Language editor, Quaderni di Gestalt
Member, Scientific Board, Gestalt Therapy Book Series, Istituto di Gestalt
“An Historical Overview of Resistance, Transference, Countertransference and Existential Issues in Transference, Countertransference, and Resistance, ” and “Historical Overview,” Gestalt Associates for Psychotherapy, New York, Fall, 2016, Spring, 2017, Fall, 2022
“Existential Psychotherapy,” The Gestalt Center, New York, October, 2016
“Resistance, Transference, Countertransference: Existential Perspective,” and “Resistance, Transference, and Countertransference: Phenomenological Perspective,” Gestalt Associates for Psychotherapy, New York, Fall and Spring, 2014
Presentation, “The fractured World: The Gestalt of the Situated Self”, Feb, 2023, NYIGT
Faculty, Institute Residential, Institut für Integrative Gestalttherapie (IGW), St Arboghast, Austria, 2022.
Plenary Speaker, Third International Gestalt Conference, Nanjing, China, 2021.
Lecturer, Minsk Gestalt Institute Conference, 2021.
Plenary Speaker, IV Interdisciplinary Congress of Gestalt Psychotherapy, “Love and the Human Condition,” Sarajevo. Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2021.
Plenary Speaker, First Conference, International Gestalt Therapy Study Group on Field-Emergent Self, 2021.
Presenter Instituto Internationale di Psicopatologia e Psicoterapia della Gestalt, 2021.
Lecturer, Ukraine Institute for Gestalt Therapy and Art, 2020.
Presenter. Conference on Coronavirus, Istituto Di Gestalt HCC, Syracuse, Italy, 2020.
Visiting Faculty, Conference and Dialogue, Gestalt Therapy Institute of Malta, 2020.
Presenter, New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy, 2020.
Lecture, “Skulls and Skeletons: the Dead and the Living as Support for Contacting,” Nov 17, 2019, NYC. See the full lecture here.
Lecture and Workshop, “Skulls and Skeletons: the dead and the living as support for contact,” Instituto Humanista de Psicoterapia Gestalt, Coyoacán, Mexico, Oct 24 to 27, 2019
I Formación Internacional en Terapia Gestalt y Terapia Gestalt Relacional – Centro Gestáltico de Perú – Lima (Peru), 2017
“An Introduction to Gestalt therapy,” lecture/presentation as guest faculty, Wagner College, New York City, Oct 2016
“Sequence of Contacting and Self,” A Weekend Workshop at the Summer University for the Valencia, Spain, Gestalt Therapy Institutes, San Jorge, Spain, July 2015
“Contact,” Featured International Faculty, Four Day Residential Gestalt Therapy Institute, Institut Français de Gestalt-Thérapie & Institut Belge de Gestalt-Thérapie, Angers, France, July 2015
“An Introduction to Gestalt therapy,” lecture/presentation as guest faculty, Wagner College, New York City, Oct 2011
“Relational Gestalt Therapy,” two day workshops, Brisbane and Sydney, Australia, Sept 2011
“The New York Institute Model of Gestalt Therapy,” two day workshop, Istituto di Gesalt, HCC, Siracusa, Italy, July 2006
2024
Rooting in Life “International Gestalt Conference, Lodska Szkoła Gestalt and New Gestalt Voices
“Blood on Our Soil: “The Myth of Antaeus, the Earth, and Homeland,” presentation, “Re-Starting, Re-Thinking, Reconnecting
Advanced Supervisor Training Workshop, Institute for Gestalt Therapy and Psychodrama, Kharkiv, Ukraine.
Speaker, Psychopathology of the Situation in Gestalt Therapy.” Istituto di Gestalt, HCC, Siracusa, IT
Poeanary, ” The Contact-Boundary: the birthplace of contacting, the home of creativity.” Annual Conference, Kiev Gestalt University, Kiev, Ukraine.
Master Class, ““When the walls keep tumbling down: re-discovering the ground of the figure during the suffering of war,” International Institute of Practical Psychology, Kharkiv, Ukraine
Workshop lecture series, “Gestalt therapy: freedom, contacting, and the other,” Pogodin Academy, Kiev, Ukraine (Online)
Presenter, Interregional Institute of Gestalt Therapy and Art, Dnipro, Ukraine
2023
Workshop, Gestalt Therapy and the Call of Freedom,” European Association for Gestalt Therapy Conference, Madrid, Spain
Keynote, “Gestalt therapy and the Call of Freedom,” Conference, and Workshop, European Accredited Training Institute- Gestalt Therapy Training Institute, Malta
Presentation, “The Fractured World: The Gestalt of the Situated Self,’ New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy, NY
Trainer, “Psychopathology of the Situation,” Istituto di Gestalt, Italy
Presenter, Beyond Trauma, online conference
Presenter, international Gestalt Conference for Psychology and Psychotherapy (Online) ‘
Lecture, Gestalt Therapy as a Clinical Phenomenology, Istituto di Gestalt, HCC
2022
Presenter, Field Perspective and Interventions in Psychology, online conference
Faculty, Institute Residential, IGW, St Arbogast, Austria
Workshop, IGW, Munich, Germany
Speaker, “Dialogues on Psychotherapy at the Time of Coronavirus,” Istituto di Gestalt, Italy
Guest Faculty, Poesis, International Institute for Gestalt Therapy and Psychopathology, (IPsiG), Turin, Italy
Speaker, Conference, Kiev Gestalt University, Kiev, Ukraine
2021
Plenary Speaker, Third International Gestalt Conference, Nanjing, China
Lecturer, Minsk Gestalt Institute Conference
Plenary Speake, IV Interdisciplinary Congress of Gestalt Psychotherapy, “Love and the Human Condition,” Sarajevo. Bosnia and Herzegovina
Plenary Speaker, First Conference, International Gestalt Therapy Study Group on Field-Emergent Self
Presenter Instituto Internationale di Psicopatologia e Psicoterapia della Gestalt,
2020
Lecturer, Ukraine Institute for Gestalt Therapy and Art
Presenter. Conference on Coronavirus, Istituto Di Gestalt HCC, Syracuse, Italy,
Visiting Faculty, Conference and Dialogue, Gestalt Therapy Institute of Malta
Presenter, New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy
2019
Lecturer and Workshop Presenter, Istituto Humanista de Psicoterapia Gestalt, Mexico City and Puebla, Mexico
Featured Speaker, Development of Gestalt Therapy Conference, Istituto Di Gestalt HCC, Mondelo, Italy,
Presenter. European Association for Gestalt Therapy Conference, Budapest, Hungary
Workshop, “Out of the Night Before Being: the Other and Creative Non-Indifference,” EAGT Conference, Budapest, Hungary, Sep 2019
2016
Plenary Panel, “The Aesthetic of the Emerging Other: beauty, responsibility and evil at the contact-boundary,” Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy (AAGT)/European Association for Gestalt Therapy (EAGT) Joint Conference, “The Aesthetic of Otherness: meeting at the other in a sensitized world,” Taormina, Italy
Panel, “The Aesthetic of the Emerging other: beauty, responsibility and evil at the contact-boundary,” AAGT/EAGT Joint Conference, “The Aesthetic of Otherness: meeting at the other in a sensitized world”, Taormina, Italy
Workshop, “The Relational Function of Self: the Human and Non-human Other” AAGT/EAGT Joint Conference, “The Aesthetic of Otherness: meeting at the other in a sensitized world”, Taormina, Italy
Read more about the AAGT/EAGT Conference (including papers and pictures).
2015
Presentation, “Contacting the Other: the clinical phenomenology of gestalt therapy,” The Psychology and the Other Conference, Cambridge, Massachusetts
2014
Workshop, “The Naked Individual: Homelessness and the relational self,” AAGT Bi-Annual Conference, Asilomar, California
2013
Panel, “Gestalt Therapy: a panel,” The Psychology and the Other Conference, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Invited Presentation, “The Person in Gestalt therapy,” AAGT Conference, Puebla, Mexico
2010
Panel (moderator), “Field of ‘Field’”, AAGT, Philadephia, Pennsylvania
“Chasing Rainbows: Ethics in gestalt therapy, external ethics, foundational ethics,” AAGT, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
“Talking in the House of the Other,” EAGT, Berlin, Germany
2009
Plenary presenter, “Chasing Rainbows,” XI International Gestalt Therapy Congress, Madrid, Spain
2008
Keynote speaker, “When,” AAGT Conference, Manchester, UK
Workshop, “The intentionality of Contact,” AAGT Conference, Manchester, UK
Keynote, “New Feet Was Asked to Fill Other’s Shoes,” AAGT Conference, Manchester, UK
“Panel of Presidents,” AAGT Conference, Manchester, UK
2007
“The Openness of Contact,” EAGT, Athens, Greece
Workshop, “Self: Structure and Function – alive and well,” AAGT, Vancouver, BC
Keynote, “The Aesthetics of Commitment,” Laura Perls Centennial Conference, Munich, Germany
Plenary speaker, “Self: an introduction,” NYIGT conference. “Shall I Compare Thee,” NY, NY
2005
Plenary Speaker, Congresso IX, Naples, Italy
2004
“Self functioning and the temporality of contacting,” AAGT Conference, Sarasota, Florida
Keynote, “President’s Welcome,” NYIGT 50th Anniversary Conference, NY, NY
2003
Panels and workshops, EAGT Conference, Prague, Czech Republic
About Me
I am a psychotherapist, supervisor, and writer based in New York City. I teach and lecture internationally on gestalt therapy, phenomenology, and clinical practice. I am fellow of the New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy, where I have been an active member for decades. I am its current president. My work emphasizes the field-emergent perspective, relationality, and the intersection of philosophy and psychotherapy. I have published extensively.
Future Offerings
For many years, I have taught a model of gestalt therapy based upon Gestalt Therapy, by Perls Hefferline and Goodman as it is relevant to today’s practice. Building from within and beyond the original model, I’ve expanded our clinical perspective to include phenomenology, pragmatism, existentialism, hermeneutics, as well as relational psychotherapeutic approaches.This is reflected in content of this website, my writings, workshops, presentations and trainings.
The seminars and seminars I offer are on various themes related to contemporary gestalt therapy from a relational perspective.
I am eager to respond to people’s interest in particular themes. I am glad to organize study groups or seminars to address them.
Please contact me to suggest topics for seminars or study groups and to be on my mailing list.
