Bruce Aaron, LCSW




The Gestalt Approach

The word "gestalt" means a unified whole—that is to say, something complete in and of itself. Rather than just examine your thoughts or your beliefs or your feelings, the Gestalt approach takes into account the totality of a person. Everything that goes into making you you—your personal history; the family you were born into; any physical, psychological, or interpersonal challenges you've had to deal with, all of your hopes, dreams, fears; as well as who you are physically, cognitively, emotionally, energetically, and spiritually—can be attended to. Whatever emerges in the moment becomes the object of our attention.

Together we can discover how you have been blocking your innate capacity for excitement, creative activity, and growth. Specifically the Gestalt approach supports the process of:

  1. identifying how we block our natural ability to sense our innate feelings, needs and wants
  2. developing clear, meaningful goals
  3. generating excitement about attaining them
  4. seeing them to fruition by moving into appropriate action
  5. savoring our accomplishments and integrating them into a new sense of ourselves

If you would like additional information on Gestalt Therapy, you can visit the Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy.

How I Work

I work with a number of different "wholes":

Individuals
Each of us is a whole person, a unique individual. No one is exactly like you or I. Yet we don't always feel whole. Over the course of growing up in society we inevitably learn to ignore or discard parts of ourselves. We may also find ourselves in contexts which might support living in survival mode, rather than one that encourages enthusiasm and thriving. Too many of us move through life with a vague ache that something isn't quite right, though we may not be able to identify what the problem is.

As an Individual client you can learn to:

  • Identify essential aspects of yourself that you've lost track of
  • Create peace with your conflicting energies
  • Reintegrate yourself into a sense of wholeness
  • Discover what interests you and ignites your joy

Groups
We are all part of a larger society. We grow up in families, we're raised in classrooms, and as adults, most of us work within some sort of interpersonal environment. Like it or not, we have been deeply touched by all sorts of groups. What we may not be aware of is that many of life's stumbling blocks are rooted in relational difficulties. So it should come as no surprise that Group therapy is often the key to unlocking our highest potentials.

As a Group Therapy client you can learn to:

  • Take an active role in creating a safe space for yourself
  • Express your genuine feelings and needs with clarity
  • Allow room for others' differences without having to "fix" them or change yourself
  • See that your situation isn't as different from others as you may have imagined

Location and Hours

My office is in the Edgewater neighborhood of Chicago. I work by appointment only. To learn more about how my approach could benefit you, to talk about the possibility of scheduling an appointment or to discuss fees, please contact me at 773.271.3817.

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