Welcome to Sydney Gestalt Institute a Campus of East Coast Gestalt Inc.

Philip Oldfield (B.A. Sociology ) has been a Gestalt Trainer since 1986. He works in private practice in Surry Hills, seeing private clients, training and supervising counselors and Psychotherapists, conducting training programs for government departments, hospitals, community organizations and businesses. Phil’s particularly interested in gay and lesbian health and relationship issues, sexuality and the impact of HIV on our communities.

Rhonda Gibson-Long (M.G.Therapy, B.Sc, Dip Ed, RSA) graduated from Sydney Gestalt Institute in 1993 and has been a trainer since 1997. She runs a full time private practice from her office in Kingsford, delivers Gestalt based lectures at various counseling colleges and presents Art and Gestalt workshops. She has extensive experience in Adult Education and school counseling, and is interested in expanding methodologies used to train adults. After studying Buddhism philosophy and meditation techniques in India she has a special interest in spiritual approaches to Gestalt.

Howard Gwynne
MBBS, PhD, MBA , GANZ Member

Howard completed a medical degree and research in pharmacology before heading off to the United States where he worked in low income community health centres. In 1983 he completed an MBA at Yale.

In 1986, Howard became head of the NSW Occupational Health, Safety and
Rehabilitation Services, and Chairman of the Occupation Health and Safety
Council. In 1991 Howard left Government to establish a management consulting practice focused on innovation and knowledge management. During this period he commenced Gestalt training at Sydney Gestalt to help him broaden his consulting skills.

Howard opened a Counselling and Psychotherapy practice in 2000 in central Sydney. He does some management coaching and continues consulting work specialising in technology and innovation.

"I'm attracted to difference and change, and the moments in life when doors open and, my goodness, I have walked through! Gestalt helps me feel my way rather than plan - a kind of lurch and bump that tumbles me into unexpected situations and people. Something is always beckoning, there's an appearance of resistance, then I give in. Life comes at me, and I'm a bit slow about getting out of its way.'

Dr Ari Badaines
Ph.D. GANZ Member

Ari is a Clinical Psychologist. He has an extensive background in family therapy. He also has a passionate interest in psychodrama. He's been with Sydney Gestalt as senior faculty member since 1992. He presents internationally.

Dinah Buchanan
M.Couns., Grad.Dip. Gestalt Therapy, RGN, GANZ member

Dinah Buchanan, M.Couns., Grad.Dip. Gestalt Therapy, RGN, GANZ College member, is a qualified Counsellor & Psychotherapist with many years experience in Child & Family Health, Gestalt Therapy, and Group Training. She has offered Counselling, Therapy, Supervision & Training, to individuals and Groups, for a number of years on the North Coast & Sydney. She has been a trainer at the Sydney Gestalt Institute for the last 2 years and a trainer for the St Mark's Counselling Course. She currently has a private practice in the Eastern Suburbs
.
Dinah has a passion for assisting others to discover their inner strengths, move through difficulties, transform their lives and realise their full potential. Over the years she has developed and facilitated many different workshops, courses and Seminars to do with Personal & Spiritual Growth, Communicating & Counselling skills, Relationship Enhancement, Conflict Resolution, Stress Management and Integration of Spiritual and Gestalt Concepts.

"It gives me great delight to see others open to the possibilities Gestalt has to offer. As the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, so we can discover the intangible 'more' that awaits us …"

Zan Goodrich
B.Ec (Uni. Of Sydney), LLB (A.N.U)

Zan completed her training with SGI in 2002. She has also studied some Systems Therapy at Relationships Australia.

She has had a practice in Kings Cross for 5 years, working mostly
with recovering addicts.

She has been involved in setting up a Gestalt Therapy Centre in Woolloomooloo and is excited by the potential this holds for working both with her private clients and the community.

Her other practice is raising an interesting array of little boys (four between 2 and 7 years). "Parenting both grounds me and humbles me."

Brian Nannetti
Dip Couns., Grad Dip GT, GANZ Member, Member A.A.B.C.A.P

Brian has worked in a number of treatment settings including private hospitals and private practice. He enjoys individual and group therapy and runs mens groups in the area of domestic violence. He's very interested in a holistic approach to health and wellbeing.

" My approach is about supporting someone in the entirety of their being to get their needs met in an environment that previously has been unsupportive"

Dr Janice Gerard ~ is a licensed Clinical Psychologist, practicing in
Los Angeles. She is Past-President of The Gestalt Therapy Institute of
Los Angeles. Janice has led workshops and training groups, and has presented at many international conferences on Gestalt therapy and transpersonal
psychology. She specializes in Gestalt Dreamwork and the integration of meditation and spiritual practice into Gestalt psychotherapy.

Steve Vinay Gunther ~ M.Sc. Director of Training, has a background in theatre, organisation development, business, meditation, and community development. His interest in psychotherapy began 27 years ago with the study and practice of Re-evaluation counseling. Subsequent training was with the Gestalt Institute of Brisbane; other studies have included Narrative Family Therapy and Eastern approaches to psychotherapy. His private practice also includes his other passion ­ facilitating career development. He is author of How A Man Loves A Woman.

Robert G. Lee, PhD, a psychologist in private practice in Cambridge and
Newton, Massachusetts, has written extensively and presented widely about
shame and belonging as regulator processes of the relational field. He
applies his inter-subjective, constructivist insights to a wide range of
clinical populations, including working with individuals, couples, families,
children and adolescents. His research on couples and shame led to a deeper understanding of the hidden dynamics of the intimate couple.

He is a member of the faculty of the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland and
teaches and trains nationally and internationally. He has become the mentor for Sydney Gestalt Institute's faculty.

His other life interests include dancing, snorkeling, and being with and enjoying his wife and their collective children.

Trevor is a psychologist and Gestalt therapist working in research areas at the University of Wollongong. He has worked in the substance abuse and dual diagnosis field for over 15 years, including working as Director of the Kedesh House Rehabilitation Program. He completed his PhD in psychology and has specific interests in group therapy and integrating and researching different psychotherapy approaches.

He currently works full time as a researcher with the Institute of Mental Health (University of Wollongong). He presents across Australia and internationally on Mental Health Recovery programs. He has an extensive background as a clinician and supervisor.

Sylvia Fleming Crocker
PhD.

Sylvia has been a Gestalt therapist for over 25 years. She trained with Miriam and Erving Polster and at the Gestalt Therapy Institute of Los Angeles, both in LA and in various countries in Europe. In recent years she has moved steadily into the work of training others in Gestalt.

She has presented at numerous conferences and has written extensively in the theory and practice of Gestalt therapy, including a book, "A Well-Lived Life." She is currently writing a book on a dramatic approach to Gestalt dreamwork. As a trainer her speciality is the dynamic connection between experiment and awareness in the therapeutic process.

Ronald A. Alexander
Ph.D.

Ronald specializes in the practice of somatic and mind/body psychotherapy, as well as teachers clinical training groups for professionals in Gestalt-Somatic Psychotherapy and Ericksonian-Mind/Body healing therapies in Santa Monica, CA,. He is a Diplomate in professional psychotherapy in the International Academy of Behavioral Medicine, Counselling and Psychotherapy.

He is the originator of the OpenMind Training; a unique method of mind/body healing that integrates the wisdom teachings of the east and Integral psychology. He is active teaching and training psychotherapist's applying the principles of Mindfulness based psychotherapy in the U.S., Europe, Australia and Asia. He leads clinical training programs in Los Angeles, New York, Europe and in Australia. www.RonaldAlexander.com

Susan Gregory

Susan is vice president of the New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy and a specialist in working with body and breath as an integrated part of Gestalt therapy practice.

Her two-day workshop "BodyStories" preceded the GANZ conference in Christchurch, NZ and her related article "Elsa Gindler: Lost Gestalt Ancestor" was published in the British Gestalt Journal, then translated and published in Gestalt journals in France, Switzerland and Germany. Susan's other specialty is voice, in both spoken and sung. She helps therapists and other professionals explore their own voices and learn to incorporate voice experiments into their work with clients. Her published papers include "Singing and Social Identity", "The Song Is You", "Breathing Into Contact", and in the Australian Gestalt Journal "A Gestalt Therapist Teaches Singing".

In April '07, she presents "Group Formation Facilitated by Voice Use" at the Roots of Gestalt conference in Rome. Susan's workshops have been praised by senior practitioners in the field.

Yaro Starak
B.A., M.S.W., Adv.Dip.SW., Dip. GT.

Yaro finished his undergraduate studies majoring in psychology at the University of Manitoba and later finished his post graduate studies in Social Work at the University of British Columbia, Canada. He continued his further studies at the University of Toronto specialising in adult education, group dynamics and supervision. He trained as a Gestalt Therapist at the Toronto Gestalt Institute and after graduating he became faculty member of that Institute for four years. He was also teaching at York University School of Social Work, Toronto, Canada.
Yaro is currently Director of the Terrigal Gestalt Institute and senior trainer at the Brisbane Gestalt Institute. He is also member of the faculty of Sydney Gestalt Centre.

• We have government accreditation to award a Post Graduate Diploma on successful completion of the course. Effectively this accreditation places this qualification on the same level as any awarded by an Australian university offering a post graduate course. Accreditation is also awarded from GANZ our professional body reflecting the standing of the course in the eyes of our Gestalt community.
• We are the longest running and biggest Gestalt training institute in Sydney and can trace our roots back to the early '80's. Rhonda Gibson Long and Philip Oldfield took over as directors in 1998 from Dr Barry Blicharski. Sydney Gestalt Institute will be celebrating its 25th birthday next year!
• With current student numbers around 60 spread over 7 classes and a current staff of 9 trainers we can boast of a student staff ratio of less than 5 to 1.
• The training program has been tailored over the years to meet current best teaching practice in the field and to meet the rigorous academic demands of the Higher Education Act 2001.
• Each group has two trainers to facilitate the process and to ensure maximum support for the students. These primary trainers are with their group for the complete year to ensure continuity and balance.
• A number of highly distinguished national and international trainers are invited each year to run the weekend workshops and the residential. This provides first hand exposure to a variety of published professionals in the field each with their unique flavour, expertise and wisdom.
• This course is 60% experiential as this is the most effective teaching approach for developing therapeutic practical skills and integrating the theory with the practice.
• We offer two forms of clinical practice. Within the course itself we invite unseen clients from the community to work with students in a supervised setting as part of the course. In addition in 3rd and 4th year students may nominate to work as therapists in SGI Clinic where they see a particular client for 6 sessions under ordinary clinical conditions. In house supervision is also provided.
• Additional clinical experience can be obtained through various clinical placements available through the school incorporating a diverse client base and excellent supervision. We support the GLOO project which is a community based therapy program offering low cost counselling for people recovering from drug and alcohol abuse run by graduates from SGI.
• SGI is housed in a grand Victorian terrace in Waverley with modern facilities. There is a spacious group room, therapy rooms, separate library and reading room, break out room and family kitchen as well as a very pleasant Japanese garden area. It is 10 minutes walk from Bondi Junction station. Unmetered street parking is available.
• We are involved in evidence based practice, research projects and the development of our alumni program. Our continuing commitment is to take the very best of Gestalt into the wider community.