In short, Gestalt therapy is about contact and awareness. Awareness is often referred to as Mindfulness these days. We accumulate our bumps in life through contact with others or by the lack of contact with others. Gestalt therapy focuses on becoming aware of the process of making, avoiding, and breaking contact. This is why Gestalt therapy is also known as the psychotherapy of contact. The "how" takes precedence over the "what" or "why" (the content). Our body is an important guide in this. Only when I become aware of my hand balling into a fist can I explore what that means for me. It’s not about what is right or wrong, because who should determine that? It’s about how I experience it, in the here and now. And in the here and now, unfinished matters from the past can come to the foreground. Yes, often from our childhood, but also from last year or even yesterday. And in the here and now, I can talk about it, experiment with it, fantasize about it, and once again experience how it feels for me.

Gestalt therapy is an experiential therapy. From experience and awareness, the possibility opens up to make different choices. And again, to experiment with those choices, starting in the safe environment of the therapy room, in order to become experientially self-aware.

Gestalt therapy is also a relational therapy. The contact between the client and therapist, in the here and now, is essential. There is an interaction, a dialogue, where the client is, of course, at the center. The therapist may, when necessary, bring in awareness or share experiences.

We cannot be isolated from our context, even though we may sometimes wish to be. Pausing to reflect on how I relate to others, to situations, and experiencing how it feels for me—with the temporary help of a Gestalt therapist—naturally brings me into motion; inward and outward. And the direction and speed are determined by me. Support, herkenning en erkenning zijn voor mij de pijlers van de therapie. It takes courage to be able to change.