The new council was sworn in at the Annual General Meeting of GANZ on the 19th of September 2018. The Council roles are described here:
Leanne O’Shea
President
I began my training at the Gestalt Institute of Melbourne and have since studied in the United States and England. I completed a Master’s Degree in Gestalt Psychotherapy at Middlesex University and have recently completed my Doctorate. I have worked in private practice for the past twenty years, providing counselling and psychotherapy to individuals and couples. During that time I have also worked as a supervisor and educator. For the past seventeen years I have taught gestalt psychotherapy at Gestalt Therapy Australia and also teach internationally, most recently at the Esalen Institute in the US. I am an Associate of Relational Change in the UK and an International Associate Faculty with the Pacific Gestalt Institute. I am interested in writing and encouraging others to write and was a founding co-editor of the Gestalt Journal of Australia and New Zealand. I am particularly passionate about Eros and sexuality, and am interested in exploring how these issues emerge in clinical practice. My ongoing commitment is to developing theoretical and practical resources that better support practitioners. I am a member of GANZ (Fellow), a member association of PACFA, and am currently on the GANZ Council, having previously served as the Chair of Ethics and the President.Barbara Churcher
Secretary
I was led to the practice of psychotherapy through an increasing interest in people and how we organise our lives and relationships. This, together with my curiosity about my own history and development, inspired a desire to know more, and eventually to change my career so I could work with people in this way. I began my psychotherapy training with a three year course at the Ashburn Clinic in Dunedin, New Zealand, and followed this with five years with the Gestalt Institute of New Zealand (GINZ).
Prior to this I had worked as an independent midwife and my early work proved to be a gift as I saw, at close hand, the formation of new families, or the adjustments that are made in established families as they accommodate their new member. This is where we begin to make who we are in the world, and much of what happens during this early time will have a profound impact on the rest of life.
Leonie Sinclair
Treasurer
After having been a school psychologist for many years I completed my Gestalt training in Melbourne in 2003, and went on to Masters level following my interest in grief. I established a private practice in Carlton before relocating to Perth where I worked at Mt Lawley Counselling Centre. I became part of the Gestalt community there through graduate groups, peer supervision, and training from visiting GATLA faculty members. I have returned to Melbourne and work nearly full time in my private psychotherapy practice. I am facilitating therapy groups offered by GTA’s Connect Ground clinic. During the past 5 years I have attended the Pacific Gestalt Institute training in Santa Barbara several times. This experience has enriched my Gestalt practice, but was especially worthwhile because of the contact with Gestalt practitioners from all over the world. Witnessing the passion for this modality, has piqued my interest in helping our community enhance the opportunities available for training and peer support. I am especially interested in encouraging more involvement from Gestalt therapists in Western Australia, and maintaining our links with New Zealand gestaltists. I have been fortunate to attend many workshops by international trainers since completing my formal qualifications, and hope we can maintain and expand these opportunities for our Gestalt communities. The enrichment of my life through Gestalt training, therapy, and community inspires me to contribute to the development of this field. I will carry out my role as Treasurer with commitment and diligence, as we move forward in the new GANZ council.
Anthony Jones
Vice President
Anthony is a psychologist and Gestalt Therapist with many years’ experience in the health and welfare sector. He currently works in community health and private practice, and has a particular focus on trauma, dissociation and relational problems. Prior to working as a therapist, Anthony worked in an industrial sugar mill for 10 years.
Jelena Zeleskov Doric
Joint International and External Relationships
I am a clinical psychologist registered in Europe and a provisional psychologist registered with AHPRA who lectures at Charles Darwin University (CDU), School of Psychological and Clinical Sciences in Darwin. Prior to joining CDU, I worked as a Research Fellow at the School of Medicine, University of Belgrade and the Institute of Criminological and Sociological Research in Belgrade, Serbia. I obtained my PhD in Psychology in 2010 and I was working in private practice as a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist for Sava Perovic Foundation Centre for Genito-Urethral Reconstructive Surgery in Belgrade for more than seven years. I am a clinical registrant of Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA), their accredited supervisor and a member of Gestalt Australia and New Zealand (GANZ). Currently, I am a member of the College of Psychotherapy Leadership Group within PACFA. I completed a five-year program in Gestalt Psychotherapy at the Gestalt Psychotherapy Training Institute Malta and Belgrade and a two-year post-graduate program in Psychopathology and Contemporary Disturbances at Instituto di Gestalt, Italy. Moreover, I completed one-year training program in Body Psychotherapy with Gestalt framework in Berlin, Germany. I participated in numerous gestalt and body psychotherapy trainings and was involved in the workshop delivered by the Centre for Somatic Studies, New York, USA. My trainers were: Lidija Pecotic, Margherita Spagnuolo Lobb, Gianni Francesetti, Carmen Vasquez, Jean Marie Robine, Ruella Frank, Bertram Muller, Julianne Appel-Opper. In addition to this, I was the Vice-President and External Relations Officer of the European Association for Gestalt Therapy (EAGT) and a Board member of the European Association for Psychotherapy (EAP). I am full member of the American Psychological Association (APA) and the Australian Psychological Society (APS). Also, I am a full member of the Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy (AAGT). My research and writings are focused on attachment theory, resilience and therapeutic factors important in understanding the lives of prisoners and former prisoners and application of gestalt therapy with various clients. So far, I have authored and co-authored over 40 books, chapters, peer-reviewed papers, national and international conference presentations in the fields of resilience, attachment theory and psychotherapy. Moving forward, my research interest is to understand gestalt psychotherapy approach and its application within neuroscience.
Madeline Fogarty
Research
I feel honoured to be elected to the council in its new formation. In particular I am very excited about the research focus that is supported by a dedicated research role. GANZ is one of three Gestalt organisation world wide, and we are well positioned to contribute to the growth and development of Gestalt Therapy (GT) locally and globally. GT has gone through many changes in the past 70 years, and we are currently poised to flourish in the research space and I am very committed to this path for deepening our understanding of GT practice and application. I have been fortunate to have an APA scholarship to support my PhD research into the development and validation of the Gestalt Therapy Fidelity Scale (GTFS). This scale will assist in conducting and publishing GT research within our GT enclave and beyond. I am well connected to the international GT research community and hope to forge greater links between GANZ and the EAGT and AAGT. I hope to assist practitioners and researchers orienting themselves to current or future involvement in research through various means including practice based research networks, scientist-practitioner models, and through further training and/or access to research materials. I have had almost 20 years of clinical experience, including supervision, the running of groups and organisational experience. I hope to bring these skills to the council. I am deeply committed to GT and to collaborative practice and communication. I love connecting with fellow GT practitioners! And research is about connection and collaboration. I am hopeful that this next phase of GANZ will bring renewed energy and life to GT as a lived experience and clinical practice. I look forward to making the most of this opportunity and thank the membership for your support.Community and Membership
Current vacantEric Houghton
Joint International and External Relationships
I am a therapist and counsellor in private practice in Wellington, New Zealand. I am fortunate to practice with colleagues I met through Gestalt training. Alongside seeing individual clients, I have spent a fair amount of time doing group work. I have facilitated groups and trained facilitators in adolescent resilience, parenting through separation and grief by suicide. In my role as a facilitator-trainer I have run trainings in many locations around New Zealand. I also have worked as a guidance counsellor at a local high school.
Prior to entering the therapeutic field, I worked in various roles in the fields of communications, broadcasting and feature film. My most prominent work was as an assistant director, which has more parallels to being a therapist than you might think.
My interest in psychotherapy began with me engaging in my own personal work. This opened my own awareness and I developed an interest in using what I was learning to assist others. I began by completing a degree in psychology at Victoria University of Wellington. On completion I was scheduled to do a Masters in Counselling Psychology, though in a serendipitous turn of events found Gestalt instead. Currently, I am in the final stages of a Masters in Gestalt Therapy with Gestalt Therapy Brisbane. This follows four years of training with the Gestalt Institute of New Zealand.
I am very pleased to be involved with the GANZ council. I work alongside Jelena in International Relations with a particular focus on New Zealand. My primary interests are to see our organisation strengthen as a collective and to help Gestalt therapy grow and flourish in the region.