4-Part Series: Recognising and Working with Client’s Unfinished Business: Using Gestalt Concepts – Mark Hartshorn

As human beings, we have a natural tendency to complete experiences in a way that is satisfactory to us. When this is not possible, we are left with unfinished business. As we travel through life, we move from experience to experience and rarely get a chance to complete them all in a way that leads us to feel satisfied. Unfinished business may take the form of unmet needs, unspoken words and unexpressed emotion and it remains with us, almost haunting us, contributing to mental health problems, addiction and disconnection from self and others.

In our practice, it is highly likely that our client’s will present with a great deal of unfinished business and little awareness of its existence, origins or impact on them, their relationships, and their lives in general.

Module 1

Module 1: An Overview of Gestalt

A principle of Gestalt theory is that the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. In this module, Mark will introduce some key concepts of Gestalt which contribute to a greater understanding of the fuller theory of Gestalt.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this module participants will be able to:

Explain the word Gestalt
Identify and describe a range of Gestalt concepts
Describe the importance of awareness in working with Gestalt theory
Practice applying Gestalt concepts to develop own awareness

Module 2

Module 2: The Gestalt Cycle of Experience

Building on the work from module 1, Mark will explain the importance of the human tendency to need to complete experiences in a way that gives rise to satisfaction. Mark will introduce the Gestalt Cycle of Experience and explain both the ways in which experiences can be completed satisfactorily and the ways in which experiences become interrupted.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this module participants will be able to:

Identify and describe the stages of the Gestalt Cycle of Experience
Explain the need for satisfactory completion in relation to mental health

Module 3

Module 3: Working with Unfinished Business

Continuing with the work from module 2, Mark will explain how unfinished business presents in client work and introduce some creative ways, sometimes referred to as Gestalt Experiments which practitioners can work draw on to work with it.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this module participants will be able to:

Identify and describe some creative ways of working with Gestalt experiments
Prepare a Gestalt experiment to use in client work

Module 4

Module 4: Unfinished Business and Childhood Trauma

Mark will expand on the work presented in the previous three modules and explain how adverse childhood experiences lead to unfinished business that is then projected onto the world and relationships in adult life. There will be an introduction to ways in which this can be addressed within the therapeutic relationship.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this module participants will be able to:

Identify and explain ways in which adverse childhood experiences lead to unfinished business
Recognise how unfinished business is projected onto the therapist and the wider world of the client
Use understanding in client work

About Mark

Mark has been involved in the work of therapy since his early twenties when he volunteered for a youth support organisation. For the best part of the last thirty years, he has helped clients and supervisees by working with a Gestalt approach combined with a psycho-spiritual way of working which sees the self as being made up of at least four parts; mind, body, soul and emotion. The inclusion of soul as part of the self is a valuable aspect of my work and one which helps clients to find a sense of meaning or purpose and a source of direction that is often unavailable to the mind. Mark has devised a model which helps to conceptualise this idea which he calls The Connections Model. Mark has taught counselling, therapy and supervision for fifteen years and set up his own training organisation in 2006. Today, he teaches and see clients and supervisees in private practice.

CPD/CE

CPD / CE credits: 1 for each module
NBCC credits: 1 for each module
OPD Points from the Australian Counselling Association: 1 for each module