28 Dec 2024

2025 Books: Working with Groups

 

2025 Books: Working with Groups




GROUP WORK by Yaro Starak

This book is for individuals who want to develop experiential skills and process models in working with groups. Here you will find numerous group facilitation examples, art therapy exercises, ideas, and experiments that will provide you, the reader, with many creative tools. Based on the author’s extensive group facilitation teaching at Universities in Canada, Europe, and Australia, as well as offering experiential group facilitation workshops all over the world, this book is an excellent and rich resource for those wishing to build and develop their group process skills.

Group Work with Art Therapy Exercises.

Printed Book (only)

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(Shipping cost not included, you will see the shipping costs during the purchase)

Combining Gestalt therapy principles with art therapy can be a powerful and effective approach when working with groups in leadership, Gestalt Therapy, or counselling settings. Both Gestalt therapy and art therapy emphasize experiential and creative processes, making them valuable tools to foster self-awareness, personal growth, and group dynamics. 

Here's how this integrated approach can be beneficial:

  1. Enhancing self-expression: Art therapy allows group members to express themselves non-verbally, which can be particularly helpful for individuals who find it challenging to communicate their emotions or thoughts verbally. This enhances self-expression and encourages group members to share their experiences more openly.
  2. Facilitating exploration of emotions: Gestalt therapy encourages individuals to fully experience their emotions in the present moment. Art therapy can serve as a bridge to access and explore these emotions, providing a safe and creative outlet for group members to process their feelings.
  3. Promoting group cohesion: Engaging in art-making together can create a sense of camaraderie and cohesion within the group. The shared experience of creativity fosters a supportive and empathetic environment, leading to better group dynamics. ideal for businesses that want to create group cohesion.
  4. Encouraging self-awareness: Both approaches focus on self-awareness and present-moment awareness. Through art-making and Gestalt techniques, individuals can become more attuned to their feelings, behaviours, and patterns, facilitating personal growth and self-discovery.
  5. Uncovering unconscious processes: Gestalt therapy emphasizes bringing unconscious thoughts and behaviours into awareness. Art therapy can help reveal underlying emotions and conflicts that group members may not be fully aware of, allowing for deeper exploration and understanding.
  6. Addressing resistance and barriers: Group members may encounter resistance or defensive mechanisms during the therapeutic process. Art therapy provides an alternative avenue for exploring these barriers and can help individuals move past resistance more effectively.
  7. Developing problem-solving skills: Art-making and Gestalt techniques encourage creative problem-solving and new perspectives. Group members can apply these skills to challenges both within the group and in their personal lives.
  8. Creating tangible representations: Artwork can serve as tangible representations of group members' inner experiences and growth. This visual aspect allows for reflection, discussion, and a deeper understanding of each individual's journey.
  9. Fostering empowerment: Engaging in art-making and self-exploration within a supportive group setting can promote a sense of empowerment and agency. Group members may discover new strengths and resources, leading to increased self-confidence.
  10. Integrating mind and body: Gestalt therapy emphasizes the mind-body connection, and art therapy can help bridge the gap between verbal processing and embodied experiences. This holistic approach can lead to more profound insights and healing.

In this book you will read about the integration of Gestalt therapy principles with art therapy, offering a dynamic and versatile approach for group work in leadership, therapeutic group sessions, or counselling settings. It can create a rich and transformative experience that supports personal growth, self-awareness, and positive group dynamics.

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- Working with Groups by Yaro Starak
Purchase the book in the Ukrainian language
ART THERAPY - A GESTALT APPROACH

Hello! Welcome to our creative therapy centre!

Here you will find everything related to Art Therapy using the Gestalt approach.

What is Art ?:

Art is genarally known as what is done by a person whose purpose is to express a message through symbols.

These symbolic tools can be music, paintings, sculptures, theater and so on.


What is Gestalt Therapy ?:

Gestalt therapy is a methodology within psychology that grew out of the research and work of the psychiatrist Dr.Fritz Perls and his wife Dr.Laura Perls.

These two professionals were coming from the psychoanalytic perspective and felt that this method was not enough to work with clients. Today we are clearly aware that no one single method can resolve the issues that involve a range of human suffering and growth.

Gestalt is a German word roughly meaning "Shape" or "configuration".

This concept is understood, in gneral terms, that all individual experiences are shaped by a figure and a background. As time goes on, and our needs change, the figure can become the background and vice versa. So in the client's experience, the figure is changing at all times from becoming a background and as the needs arise, the figure emerges seeking completion.

When we block or prevent this process, we become unaware and suffer. That is a part of the theoretical foundations of Gestalt therapy.

Gestalt therapy, therefore, is a "philosophy", a way of being in the world in the "here and now" and taking "response-aibility" without pushing the river. Thus life is a flow ..

What is GESTALT Art Therapy?


It is the sum of the two previous concepts, Gestal therapy and the use of tools we learn to use in art therapy.

Using the artistic tools and adding the gestalt language between client and psychotherapist we work jointly to decode the messages hidden in the intrinsic symbols representing the client's situation. The Psychotherapist accompanies the client in the process of "discovering" what is helpful and not analysing or interpreting, but suggesting and asking the client what it is he or she knows are the answers and supports client's need to discover the ncessary solutions.

WE ARE SURE THAT YOU WILL BE ATTRACTED by this new way of working with emotions, whether or not you are a professional psychologist or therapist, since many of the exercises can be used personally for your own growth.

Our work is done in Australia & Spain and other countries. We have given workshops and participated in conferences throughout the world. We are located in our offices at the Gestalt Art Therapy Centre in Brisbane -Australia.

BE HAPPY HERE AND NOW..... AND BE CREATIVE !

Yaro Starak - Gestalt Psychoterapist
Gemma Garcia- Gestalt Therapist- Ericksonian Hypnosis


SEE LABELS ON THE RIGHT SIDE

1-TRAINING MODULES FOR SALE: Gestalt art therapy

1.1-FOR PSYCHOLOGY & THERAPY PROFESSIONALS:

Here you will find and carry out therapeutic work with tools that combine art and gestalt method.

You can learn new ways of providing therapeutic treatment depending on the particular situation and client needs.

1.2-ART AS PERSONAL GROWTH

These modules can be practical exercises for your "realize" how do you do in your life.

There are specific modules that you can play with your partner and / or family.

SKYPE - ON LINE THERAPY

We offer brief therapy sessions via Skype. You may request a no-obligation appointment with us, the first session is free.

This is a way of doing personal therapy we call "Emergency work" used in very special cases and situations. For us, the therapy session should be mainly for the benefit of the client needing immediate help.

BOOKS FOR SALE:

GESTALT THERAPY theory and practice - some books written by Yaro Starak

A GESTALT TEST: you can acquire to discover your potentials.

VIDEOS & DVD focussing on gestalt work and art therapy work.

ARTICLES: Written by varoius therapists from Australia, NZ and overseas.