Working with Trauma in a Traumatized Field A Relational Gestalt Exploration of Collective, Cultural, and Global ... (1)

Workshop Description

We are living and working in a profoundly traumatized field. Beyond individual and relational trauma, therapists today are immersed in global conditions marked by war, displacement, climate crisis, political polarization, systemic violence, economic insecurity, and collective uncertainty. These forces shape not only our clients’ experiences, but also our own nervous systems, meaning-making, and capacity for presence.

This workshop explores trauma as a field-wide phenomenon, extending Gestalt understanding beyond the immediate therapeutic relationship to include the larger contextual layers in which suffering and healing unfold: society, culture, country, family systems, professional communities, and the co-created therapeutic space itself.

Grounded in Gestalt Field Theory and the Compassionate Relational Gestalt Trauma Model (CRGTM), this training invites participants to examine how collective and cultural trauma enters the therapy room—often silently—impacting perception, contact, pacing, and relational safety. Particular attention is given to the therapist as both participant in and holder of the traumatized…