With great joy and pride we are able to announce that the Gestalt Foundation has released the first periodical edition for Gestalt psychotherapy, in Greek, with the distinctive title “DI-ERGASIES” (“Processes”)!

After 20 years of development, as a psychotherapy and training center, we decided to collect the wealth of our students' work in Greek and share it with all those interested in Gestalt psychotherapy! Papers (essays, presentations and dissertations) in which our trainees not only describe clearly the basic concepts and principles of the theory and methodology of the Gestalt psychotherapy but also submitted their own personal, scientific view!

This initiative, as it turned out, was a particularly difficult task! Many remarkable works ... many important issues ... We had to make a choice! So we decided that a single book was not enough to accommodate all this volume of such rich content and proceeded to the bold endeavor of the periodical edition!

This first issue focuses on a review of the historical evolution of Gestalt therapy, as well as on presentations of issues such as holism, phenomenology, field theory, dialogue and commitment!

We hope you will enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed preparing it!

The Gestalt in Organizations Workshop cycle was successfully completed on 4-5-6 May 2018. The topic chosen by the coordinator and manager of the project, Mr. George Stamatis* for the last workshop was "Diagnosis of the Organization".

On this 3day workshop, the participants, under the guidance of Mr. Stamatis, explored how an Organization "is explored" through the experience, contact and awareness of the Organization's status, framework, structure and process, under the prism of Gestalt psychotherapy.

In addition, issues related to roles, patterns and culture were analyzed in both healthy and "disturbed" organizational contexts as well as interventions that Gestalt could make for a healthy and creative adaptation of the Organization.

* Stamatis George, B.A. (Law), H.S.D. (Marketing), M.Ed. (Education Adult). Gestalt Foundation Graduate (G.P.O.). Organizations and Business Development Consultant, trainer and coach in Greece and abroad. Gestalt consultant for companies and organizations (G.P.O.) has taught at the Athens University of Economics and UNYP Prague Universities and UNYT Tirana. Author of 12 books, including "The Art of change - Gestalt, a different approach for organizations", along with F. Meulmeester and I. Rizou.

For the fourth time, the Gestalt in Organizations Workshop cycle met on 13-14-15 April 2018. Coordinator of the workshop was Mr. Frans Meulmeester * who raised the very good question “Should they really stop fighting?”.

Although conflicts are so much a part of our daily lives and our lives in organizations, we usually try to either avoid them or resolve them as soon as possible. However, the Gestalt approach of conflicts is more focused on a deeper understanding of the conflict.

What might the conflict represent? What might be the function of the conflict in this field? What can we learn from this conflict about the total field of the organization?

During this workshop the participants shared their experiences and tried to explore these questions instead of erasing them.

* Frans Meulmeester, Staff member and guest trainer of several Gestalt institutes around the world. Registered Gestalt therapist and Gestalt Practitioner in Organizations (GPO) in the EAGT and a registered psychotherapist (ECP) in the European Association for Psychotherapy (EAP). Member of the Executive Committee of the EAGT.

In a very moving and emotionally charged three-day workshop, 20-22 April 2018, the Continuing Education Program “Relational Gestalt Psychotherapy” was completed. Coordinator was Dr Gianni Francesetti* who had chosen the topic “The field perspective in clinical practice. Towards a theory of therapeutic phronesis”.

This workshop covered a large part of theory, not with the aim of giving a proposition of a universal definition of the field concept, but taking into account the complexity of the matter, offering a theoretical framework that is sufficiently clear, as well as illustrating its consequences for clinical practice.

As expected, the team farewell to the expectation of meeting again in the future and exploring together the rich world of relational psychotherapy through Gestalt therapy.

*Gianni Francesetti, Psychiatrist, Gestalt therapist, international trainer and supervisor, he has published widely on psychotherapy and psychopathology, exploring original approaches to understanding clinical suffering from a phenomenological and Gestalt therapy viewpoint and proposing new models for framing particular clinical disorders (including experiences of panic, depression, psychosis, and obsessive-compulsive disorder). He is president of Poiesis. Gestalt Therapy Center of Torino and co-director of the IPsiG (International Institute for Gestalt Therapy and Psychopathology). He is Past President of the EAGT (European Association for Gestalt Therapy), of the SIPG (Italian Society for Gestalt therapy) and of the FIAP (Italian Federation of Psychotherapy Associations), member of the New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy, the Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy (AAGT), the European Association of Psychotherapy (EAP), and the Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR). He lives and works in Turin, Italy.

During the days March 31 - April 1, 2018, the 2nd workshop of Relational Gestalt Psychotherapy Program was held and participants attended the guest coordinator Dr Donna Orange*, a world renowned psychoanalyst, who developed the subject “The Suffering Stranger: from Intersubjectivity to the Hermeneutics of Trust”.

After thoroughly analyzing the subject, Dr D. Orange, with her care, experience and knowledge, further instructed the participants, professionals from Greece and other European countries, to nourish those spiritual resources that are needed to work within a hermeneutics of trust. The hermeneutics of trust becomes a relational form of understanding that heals within a human connection.

*Donna M. Orange, Ph.D., Psy.D. Ph.D. in philosophy, Fordham University, New York, 1979. Psy. D. in clinical psychology, Yeshiva University, New York, 1987. Analytic certification, Institute for the Psychoanalytic Study of Subjectivity, New York, 1991. Assistant Clinical Professor (Adjunct) and Consultant / Supervisor, New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis. Relational Track. New York. Faculty and training and supervising analyst, Institute for the Psychoanalytic Study of Subjectivity, New York.

On Thursday, March 15, 2018, the Gestalt Foundation's open lecture cycle was completed at the IANOS Culture Chain in Athens for the period 2017-2018.

Mrs. Argiro Vagia*, in her lecture, introduced the participants to “A responsibility different from the others»! Although the word "responsibility" is a concept that refers to qualities such as immediacy and sincerity, as individuals we are called upon to define and assume our responsibility in a complex network of relationships.

So Mrs. Vagia, under the prism of Dialogue, tried to present responsibility in a different way, as a challenge, as an active participation in what is now happening, as an invitation to the new, as an opportunity to live a meaningful life and ultimately, as the shortest road between two points, between me and my need, between I and You.

This «responsibility, the different from the others» was a trigger for thought and reflection that sparked the dialogue between Mrs. Vagia and the participants. A dialogue creative and lucrative just as it was indented!

* Argiro Vagia is a graduate of the Department of Psychology of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Gestalt Foundation of Athens and holds M.Sc. in Cognitive Science. Since 2001, has worked in private and public sector structures by providing diagnostic, support and counseling services to children and adolescents with special needs, as well as to students in formal development, to their parents and teachers. Furthermore, she has worked as a consultant for chronically unemployed people and individuals belonging to vulnerable groups and has taught psychology courses at post-Lyceum education institutes. Within her professional status and her research interests, she has been invited as a speaker at meetings and conferences and has co-ordinated experiential seminars. In recent years he has been working professionally in Chalkida and Maroussi in Attica, working psychologically with adults and teenagers and coordinating psychotherapy and self-knowledge groups.

Another training workshop, within the Gestalt in Organizations program of our center was completed on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 March 2018 with coordinator the distinguished Gestalt therapist Dr. Daan van Baalen on the timeless and burning problem of "Abuse and harassment at workplace".

Every practitioner, either as an employee, or as an employer or CEO, can be confronted with harassment or even abuse in the workplace, but also as a mental health professional, this is an issue patients often bring to their therapy.

Dr. D. van Baalen investigated and analyzed these phenomena through the theory of the Gestalt approach (Levin and Prägnanz (Wertheimer M.)), but it was also able to indicate how these theories influence our attitude or as Gestalt consultants (Gestalt practitioners in organizations) or as executives of companies and organizations.

* Daan van Baalen MD, PhD, Gestalt therapist, trainer, supervisor and certified GPO. Certified from EAP and EAGT member. Founder of the Norwegian Gestalt Institute Academic College (NGI). He has taught in many European countries, has published numerous articles and is actively involved in research.

On Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 March 2018, the first of three continuing education workshops on "Relational Gestalt Psychotherapy" was held, coordinated by Dr. Sally Denham-Vaughan*, invited by the Gestalt Foundation for this purpose from the United Kingdom.

Dr. S. Denham-Vaughan defied the great difficulties that arose with the sharp deterioration of the weather in the UK and traveled under particularly adverse conditions to finally be here with us for an especially creative workshop: “Navigating the journey between Good and Evil: Gestalt Psychotherapy as “Praxis of Discernment”. This subject, with particular philosophical interest, brought together the newly established team of professionals who traveled from all over Greece and Europe for this workshop.

We wish to thank Dr. S. Denham-Vaughan for overcoming all the obstacles in order to coordinate this creative workshop with her unique spirit but also all participants too for the dynamics of this group!

* Dr Sally Denham-Vaughan, is an International Trainer, Psychotherapist, Registered Training Supervisor, Organisational Consultant and Accredited Coach/Coach Supervisor. She has a background in Clinical Psychology and Gestalt Psychotherapy with over 25 years experience in senior leadership positions in the NHS in the UK. She now specialises in Relational Leadership Development, Organisational/Community Transformation and Governance/Ethical Frameworks. Recently her consulting work has focussed on large scale culture change programmes with global organisations committed to ethical, ecological and sustainable developments. She also works as an executive coach with CEO and Board members of purpose driven organisations. She is the Co-Founder of Relational Change, an International Organisation specialising in developing Relational Approaches in theory and practice, International Board Advisor at The Relational Center in Los Angeles, Academic Advisor on the Doctoral programme at Metanoia/Middlesex University in London, International Faculty Associate at the Pacific Gestalt Institute in California and an Associate with the Taos Institute. She presents widely at conferences and international training centres and was the keynote speaker at the GANZ conference, (Gestalt Australia and New Zealand), in 2014. She presents widely at conferences and international training centres and was the keynote speaker at the GANZ conference, (Gestalt Australia and New Zealand), in 2014.