Supporting Growth of Gestalt Supervisors in Training

ABSTRACT In this article, we offer a way of learning in training for supervisors that focuses on building a personal supervisory approach. Our aim is to support the future supervisors’ competences already at their disposal and to utilize the potential of group learning. To illustrate this approach, we present a specific didactic application of the results of a research study mapping the use of Gestalt therapy principles in supervision. These include a focus on the supervisee’s experiencing, anchoring in the here and now, and the use of specific therapeutic concepts and strategies: attention switching, dialogical principle, paradoxical theory of change, parallel process, field theory, and experiment. We conclude by showing different approaches to novice, developing, and experienced therapists in supervision.