About Us
NYIGT Now
As we were then, so are we now: a teaching/learning community where we explore ever-evolving Gestalt therapy theory/practice.
As we are now, we draw forward into our present the history and innovations represented by almost 75 years of exploring, developing, creating, and inventing gestalt therapy.
From the very start, we have been dedicated to developing gestalt therapy theory/practice and extending ourselves, challenging ourselves, re-forming ourselves in order to maintain the vitality and creativity of our founders and those who came after them. We have been challenging ourselves to stay at the edges separating the familiar and the novel.
What began as informal gatherings in the Upper West Side apartment of Fritz and Laura Perls continues now with in person, online, and hybrid meetings that include members and guests from North, Central, and South America, Canada, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
We are and will always be the New York Institute for Gestalt therapy and we are now and will be an institute with members from around the world.
Each month from September to June, we hold our monthly meetings to which everyone is invited. Our meetings include planned presentations relevant to contemporary gestalt therapy theory/practice. There is no charge to attend any of our presentations. These meetings are either online or in a hybrid format.
To see the full schedule, please click here.
We hope you will join us for any of these that draws your interest.
We welcome you to become a member.
Members have access to a members section of this website where recordings of our presentations are available to watch. That section also contains documents, papers, and various other items not viewable by the visitors to the website. Other benefits to membership are being developed.
For more information, please contact us.
We welcome you,
Dan Bloom
President, NYIGT
Burt Lazarin
Vice President, NYIGT
PHILOSOPHY
THE NYIGT TODAY
Over the years, the Institute has evolved into a world-wide membership organization addressing the needs of the Gestalt therapy community. Its structure continues to develop according to the needs of individuals and of the group-as-a-whole. Each month from the relative isolation of psychotherapy practices, supervision, seminars, practica, and study groups, people come together in a larger community to socialize, learn from one another, and contactfully challenge themselves in the on-going group process.
Each of us meets as a peer, regardless of our background or experience, whether student, teacher, fellow, full or associate member.
We at the New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy think of ourselves as serving a special function in the larger Gestalt therapy community.Rather than offer formal structured programs to “train” Gestalt therapists,our primary function is the ongoing teaching and learning of Gestalt therapy itself. We believe teaching and learning Gestalt therapy are aspects of a single contact-boundary phenomena. An experienced teacher learns through the process of teaching; a student teaches through the process of learning. All of us continue to discover, invent, learn, and create the theory of Gestalt therapy.
Learning thus does not emanate from the top down in a fixed hierarchy, but emerges as figures of interest in a field of excitement and support. We invite all interested people to join our teaching/learning community. Each of us organizes his/her own teaching learning experience based on need, interest and excitement. We encourage one another to follow his/her interest, attend to what is exciting in this process, and to bring his/her needs, questions, and concerns to our monthly meetings in order to further the continuing study of Gestalt therapy by all of us.We believe this leads to awareness and growth in a way that most effectively embodies the values and spirit of Gestalt therapy.
HISTORY
The New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy, founded in 1952, is the original Gestalt therapy institute. In the late 1940’s Frederick (Fritz) and Laura Perls emigrated to the United States and settled in New York City. Here they continued their work begun in South Africa , developing a novel theory and method of psychotherapy. In 1951, the therapy was named and presented to the world in Gestalt Therapy, Excitement and Growth by Frederick Perls, Ralph Hefferline, and Paul Goodman.
A year following its publication, 40 people arrived for study at the Perls’s apartment; Fritz and Laura each led a group of 20. The NYIGT, the first Gestalt therapy institute in the world, was fueled by the excitement of this group. The original circle soon grew to include Isadore From, Paul Goodman, Elliot Shapiro, Paul Weiss, Richard Kitzler, and others. Over the years, these people spread the seeds of Gestalt therapy from which many national and international Gestalt therapy institutes grew. Fritz’s enthusiasm sparked the fires of the NYIGT and for many years Laura’s forceful patience sustained it. The continuing liveliness and commitment of its member to the Institute’s core values has kept it vital for nearly half a century.
PAST OFFICERS
| Past Presidents | Past Vice Presidents | Tenure |
| Michael Vincent Miller | Susan Gregory | 2022-2023 |
| Frank Bosco | Michael Vincent Miller | 2020-2021 |
| Adam Weitz | Gayla Feinstein | 2017-2019 |
| Ken Meyer | Elinor Greenberg | 2015-2017 |
| Lee Zevy | Burt Lazarin | 2013-2015 |
| Susan Jurkowski | Frank Bosco | 2011-2013 |
| Bud Feder | Gail Feinstein | 2009-2011 |
| Susan Gregory | Bud Feder | 2007-2009 |
| Burt Lazarin | Susan Gregory | 2005-2007 |
| Dan Bloom | Gail Feinstein/Susan Gregory | 2003-2005 |
| Dan Bloom | Burt Lazarin | 2001-2003 |
| Lee Zevy | Burt Lazarin | 1999-2001 |
| Gail Feinstein | Dan Bloom | 1997-1999 |
| Joe Lay | Gail Feinstein | 1995-1997 |
| Perry Klepner | Ruth Wolfert | 1993-1995 |
| Carl Hodges | Karen Humphrey | 1991-1993 |
| Laura Perls | 1972-1991 |
PAY MEMBERSHIP DUES
JOIN US!
Open to all persons interested in Gestalt Therapy Theory, this would include well-established Gestalt Therapists, non-Gestalt Therapists, students and persons in related fields. Again, this is open to anyone who would like to join us and to be part of our institute in any way moving forward.