Applying Gestalt Therapy in Work with Adolescents

Since the founding of Gestalt therapy by Perls (1940), it has been successfully applied to various age groups for more than 80 years. In this paper I will try to present how this approach is applied with high school students, aged 14 to 18 in the high school where I work as well as to explore which Gestalt techniques are most easily accepted by them. Adolescence is recognized as unique developmental period characterized by significant biological, cognitive and psychological changes that are essential parts to healthy development. When examining adolescence, one can observe both the complex and often problematic development processes described in the empirical studies of Hall more than a century ago, as well as the many possibilities that this stage of life offers, which Stenberg referred to as “age of opportunities”.

As a psychologist working in a high school I constantly meet both aspects of this developing period of the students, and my task is to support them overcome the difficulties while fostering their developmental potential. My closer work with them meets their fragility, from which the strength often emerges, grounded in the relationship we build together with our presence.