Lifeworks

Articles & Resources

A working library.

Pieces I have written, papers that have shaped my practice, organisations I trust, and the case-study blog I have kept running in twenty languages since 2010. Take what is useful.

My writing

Articles & instruments

A handful of pieces I keep returning people to — practical instruments, personal essays, and a longer paper on the politics of ethics committees.

To peruse more writing see my Academia site ↗.

More on ethics committees →

  • DOCX · Self-assessment

    Holistic Self-Assessment ↗

    A reflective instrument I put together for clients and students — an overview of your health history, current status and wellness orientation. Useful at the start of therapy or as a personal stock-take.

  • PDF · Ethics paper

    Who Minds the Minders? ↗

    A substantive paper on the troubled workings of professional ethics committees. Ostensibly there to protect clients and the public, in practice they can do as much harm as good. See also my page on /ethics/.

  • PDF · Conflict work

    Alternatives to Blame and Powerlessness ↗

    Working with highly charged, entrenched conflicts: what moves us beyond recrimination and stuckness toward responsibility, contact and change.

  • PDF · Personal essay

    My Transsexual Father — four chapters ↗

    A personal essay in four parts, written across twenty years. First published in The Australian Newspaper in 1995, then revisited in 2005, 2015, and as a eulogy. On family, dignity, gender and the long work of acceptance.

Twenty languages, fifteen years

The Gestalt case-study blog.

Once a week since 2010 I have published a short case-study vignette — a moment from the consulting room, glossed with the Gestalt theory it draws on. The series is aimed at students and graduates who want practical examples of relational Gestalt at work.

Volunteer translators have carried the blog into twenty languages, from Arabic to Serbian. Pick whichever opens most easily for you.

Browse all 20 languages →

Sample languages

Plus Bahasa, Czech, Filipino, Greek, हिंदी, Magyar, Italiano, 한국어, Melayu, Polski, Română, Русский, Serbian.

Recommended reading

Papers I keep close.

Some of these you will find cited in trainings; others are quieter pieces that simply shifted how I work. Many are PDFs hosted on the original Lifeworks server.

  • A Gestalt Therapy Overview ↗

    Gary Yontef

    A clear, generous orientation to the theory and method — a good first read for anyone new to Gestalt.

  • The Paradoxical Theory of Change ↗

    Arnold Beisser

    Central to Gestalt: the more we strive to be other than we are, the less we change. Change comes through fully being what we already are.

  • A Personal Perspective on Gestalt ↗

    Petruska Clarkson

    Articulate, insightful and provocative — Clarkson at her best on what Gestalt asks of the therapist.

  • Truth and Lies ↗

    Shahid Najeeb

    A paper given at a Buddhism and Psychotherapy conference. A meditation on candour and the analytic relationship.

  • How Love Works ↗

    Bert Hellinger

    The originator of Family Constellations on the orders of love within systems.

  • The Therapeutic Relationship ↗

    Ernesto Spinelli

    An existential-relational perspective on what actually heals between therapist and client.

  • Dual Relationships ↗

    Ofer Zur

    A challenge to the orthodox prohibitions — arguing for a more nuanced, context-sensitive ethics.

  • Post-Logical Thinking ↗

    Herb Koplowitz

    Applied systems thinking and the developmental stages of adult cognition.

  • Dialogical Therapy ↗

    Lynne Jacobs

    A leading exponent of dialogical Gestalt — on presence, inclusion and the between.

  • Field Theory ↗

    Malcolm Parlett

    A seminal piece exploring the implications of field theory for Gestalt practice.

  • Intimate and Strategic Skills ↗

    Backman & Nevis

    An excellent exploration of two fundamental skill registers — and how power and relationship intersect.

  • Strategic Questioning ↗

    Fran Peavey

    A method for opening dialogue across difference — questions that move the field rather than score points.

  • Emic and Etic Perspectives ↗

    William L. White

    Ostensibly on the ethics of working with addiction, but most useful for its account of insider and outsider stances in any cross-cultural work.

Sister projects

Other corners of my work.

Different audiences, different containers — videos, books, home-study courses, workshops. Each has its own site.

Something missing?

If you are searching for a particular paper, a translation of the blog, or a piece of mine I have not posted here, write and I will usually be able to send it.

contact@learngestalt.com →