what is gestalt therapy?
Gestalt therapy is all about coming back to yourself in the present moment. Instead of only talking about your story, we also pay attention to what’s happening right here, right now - your emotions, body sensations, thoughts, and the patterns that show up as we sit together.
This approach integrates parts work and Internal Family Systems (IFS)–inspired exploration. Together, we notice, welcome, and interact with the many different “parts” of you - the parts that developed to help you survive, the parts that feel unheard, or even the parts you’ve pushed aside. Slowing down and noticing what’s happening in the moment fosters deep awareness - and awareness can start to open a door to real change.
Over time, many people find they feel more connected to themselves, more honest in their relationships, and more able to move through life with intention & choice at the center, rather than feeling stuck in the same old patterns that get in the way of their authenticity.
what about somatic therapy?
Somatic therapy includes the body’s wisdom as part of the process - not just your mind and thoughts. Our bodies often carry the imprint of what we’ve been through, especially stress, trauma, and emotions that haven’t had the space to fully move through us.
This might look like gently tuning in to things like breath, areas of tightness, posture, or other physical sensations that show up as we sit together. These small moments of noticing can offer important clues about how your nervous system has learned to respond to the world, particularly in the aftermath of difficult or overwhelming experiences.
Working this way can help people process trauma at a pace that feels safe and manageable, while building a stronger sense of grounding and regulation. Often, many clients find they feel more connected to their bodies, their agency, and may find support in healing and transforming the impacts of oppression.
To get a bit nerdy on you…
“Soma is a Greek root and it means 'the living organism in its wholeness'. It's the best word we have in English to really mean the psychobiology and our relationality, or the sensing self, the emotional self, the thinking self, the relational self, and how we take action- that's all one whole piece rather than this inheritance that many of us got about the body as a thing.
Somatics helps us understand ourselves in this wholeness, and it also helps us understand how we change.” - Staci Haines