Introduction to the Committee
EAGT’s Human Rights and Social Responsibility Committee has its origins in the reverberations felt after the attack on the Twin Towers on September 11th, 2001. This was a wake-up call that resonated in our Gestalt community urging us to shift focus from individual growth to social actions and to reconnect with the political roots and values of Gestalt Therapy as championed by our founder Paul Goodman. Amidst the multiple global crises of today, and with the threat to basic human rights ever present, developing social-political awareness, and taking social responsibility beyond the therapy room is more important than ever.
In recent years we have responded to calls from marginalised and oppressed populations in a number of countries, from national Gestalt communities facing a pressing issue, and we have developed spontaneous initiatives in response to various emergencies. Examples include:
- Providing psychosocial interventions to those working to support the initial reception of refugees.
- Training therapists to deal with trauma and burnout prevention in war and post-war situations.
In addition we promote awareness of the social political dimension of Gestalt Therapy in Gestalt Training and therapy practice.
The Committee was founded at the EAGT conference in Prague 2004.
Our Aims
- To explore the interface between Gestalt Therapy and the social-political context with reference to the advancement of human rights
- To support the restoration of human dignity and rights in places where these have been violated or threatened
- To encourage Gestalt therapists to be socially active beyond the therapy room and to support Gestalt Training Institutes to promote awareness of the socio-political dimension of our work in training Gestalt therapists
Ongoing Tasks & Projects
- Crisis Platform: this project is dedicated to offering therapeutic support to volunteers working in the humanitarian field (Peace Brigades International (PBI) and volunteers working with refugees on the Greek islands.
- Implementing human rights and social responsibility: the aim of this project is to inspire training institutes to find different ways of implementing HR&SR in their curricula.
- HR&SR Committee Conference: we are organising a conference in 2024 under the title “Not Looking away and Finding Hope together“. The purpose of the conference will be to bring together and connect gestalt therapists and people from different backgrounds working in the field of human rights.
- Support of gestalt practioners in exile
This project was conceived with the aim of offering support for gestalt pracitioners from Belarus and Ukraine living in exile in Poland. It includes also other European gestalt students, pracitioners and institutes who are EAGT members, as besides contributing to creative adjustment to the new environment in the time of crisis, it is also meant to strenghten networking and support integration processes through raising awareness among European colleagues about the experiences migrants in exile are going through. Thus, it aspires to create the sense of community and togetherness through sharing and learning.
The project consists of 2 clusters:
1) TRAINING : 3 dynamic meetings in Lodz (Poland) and 3 seminars in European gestalt institutes or in other European settings.
2) NETWORKING: series of lectures /webinars on migration-related phenomenon (online).
Booklet "Being Close from a Distance"
Being Close From a Distance is a 2021 publication of the Human Rights and Social Responsibility Committee, providing online support for social activism worldwide, written by Gestalt therapists.
The purpose of the paper is multiple. On the one hand, it intends to provide reflections and operational tips for therapists who give online support to international human rights activists. On the other hand, some information included in the paper can be helpful for NGOs active in crisis situations that wish to improve their organizational styles and establish self-care protocols, initiatives and also regular training.
The booklet is available in several languages: English, French, Russian and Ukrainian. For a free download, please see the Documents for download section in the end of the page.
Past Projects
- In 2006 we held a small informal conference in Tel-Aviv facilitating and bearing witness to dialogue between a former member of the PLO, Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs
- EAGT formed an on-going partnership with the NGO ‘‘Peace Brigades International’ (PBI). PBI works by sending an international presence to regions where there is oppression and conflict and has worked in countries such as Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, and Nepal. EAGT therapists have been providing psychosocial-support to activists prior to and post their deployment in the field.
- From 2015-2020 we supported professionals from Babel Day Centre for migrants in Athens (https://babeldc.gr/ ). Babel provides mental health support to migrants negotiating the triple exclusions of i) migrant or refugee status, ii) a different ethno-cultural background and iii) the experience of mental distress. We provided the multi-disciplinary staff team with workshops on trauma, burn-out prevention, and team-working.
- We published a booklet ‘Being Close From A Distance’ in several languages (English, French, Russian and Ukrainian). It provides reflections and operational tips for therapists offering online support to international human rights activists. Some information is directed at NGOs active in crisis situations that wish to improve their organisational styles and establish self-care protocols, new initiatives and/or to support training programmes.
- We ran six 3-day workshops for therapists affected by the armed conflicts in Ukraine following the events in Maiden Square in 2014. These covered topics such as crisis intervention, loss and grief, trauma symptoms and diagnosis, and trauma therapy. We provided follow-on support to around 25 Ukrainian therapists.
- In May 13th 2021 we organised an online forum event “The Impact of the Corona Crisis on the Social and Political Field: Perspectives and Responses”. The purpose of this event was to bring into focus the social and political aspects of the COVID situation in relation to psychotherapeutic work and to exchange information regarding the COVID situation between colleagues from different European countries.
- In 2022, at the outbreak of war in Ukraine we ran two 3-day workshops in Warsaw under the title “Helping the Helpers”. The participants were Polish therapists from a number of modalities, and there were also four Ukrainian therapists at different stages of adapting to the Polish field.
- In 2013 EAGT adopted recommendations of the HR&SR committee to incorporate a ‘social, political, cultural and ecological dimension’ into its minimum training standards.
- The HR&SR committee has organised two conferences:
– “Social, political and cultural relationship as therapy’s ground, a Gestalt Perspective’ Venice, Oct 2011
– “Supporting human dignity in a collapsing field’ Berlin 2018 - We have published two post conference books:
– ‘Yes we care! Social, political and cultural relationship as therapy’s ground, a Gestalt perspective (2013/2015)
– Supporting human dignity in a collapsing field. Gestalt approach in the social and political contexts” (2019)
Get in Touch with us
We welcome conversations with Gestalt Therapists and practitioners interested in our work, and we support Training Institutes to incorporate a social-political-cultural dimension within therapy trainings.
We maintain a network of therapists involved in different kinds of humanitarian work. We are always pleased to hear from individuals passionate about the application of Gestalt to the social political field.
