Psychotherapy Faculty

Diploma in Professional Development

Adam Kincel PhD, MA, UKCP

Adam is a psychotherapist and supervisor with over 10 years’ experience. In addition to teaching at the Gestalt Centre, he also teaches internationally, particularly in Eastern Europe and the USA. He is particularly interested in a relational approach and therapeutic work through the body. His doctoral research examined the role of social and sexual identity in the therapeutic process.

Post Graduate Certificate

Urtzi Cristobal BSc Psychology, MA, UKCP, MBACP (Accred)

Urtzi is a psychotherapist and supervisor as well as our Post Graduate Certificate tutor. He worked for 11 years at a hospice where he trained and managed the staff as well as offering individual and group therapy for the terminally ill, their families and bereaved relatives.

Postgraduate Diploma

Carmen Joanne Ablack MSc PGDip Psychotherapy MIHM(Sen)

UKCP Registrant and Honorary Fellow. Postgraduate Diploma core tutor; GCL Supervisor

Carmen is an integrative body psychotherapist, supervisor and trainer working with individuals, groups, couples and organisations. She is a trained mediator and coach and is accredited as a Senior Manager by the Institute of Healthcare Management. Her theoretical, clinical, consultancy and teaching experience includes integrative and relational approaches; gestalt body psychotherapy; intercultural, sexual and diversity work; working with creativity and performance; somatic trauma therapy and transpersonal approaches in the psychological therapies. Carmen has been teaching psychotherapy, counselling and other psychological approaches to therapy since the 1980’s in the UK and abroad and is a regular keynote speaker. She has published a book chapter and various articles on psychotherapy theory, contemporary practice, regulation and governance. She is an Honorary Fellow of the UKCP, President of the EABP (European Association of Body Psychotherapists) and a member of UKAGP.

MA & Psychotherapy Practitioner Programme

Toni Gilligan MPhil

MA and Psychotherapy Practitioner Programme core tutor

Toni has worked with the NHS psychiatric services for 13 years. She is now in private practice as a UKCP Registered Gestalt Psychotherapist and is a co-director of the Gestalt Centre. She has worked in the voluntary sector and social services, and on the professional guidance committee of an innovatory therapeutic community. She has extensive experience of people with substance misuse problems and other severe psychological disturbances.

Supervised Practice Extension Group

Gaie Houston MA (Oxford) UKCP

Practice Group tutor

Gaie Houston is Emerita Advisor to the Gestalt Centre London. She first trained in the US and has been teaching Gestalt and supervising since 1974. She has written a number of books on Gestalt, Brief work, Groups, Supervision and Integrative Therapy. She has written a number of plays, mostly for radio. She currently supervises senior trainees at the Gestalt Centre and works as a trainer in several countries outside the UK.

Visiting Tutors and Workshop Leaders

Visiting leaders are regularly invited to work in all years of the training. This gives trainees a wide experience of the theoretical understanding and practice of Gestalt and related approaches.

Michael Ellis MA UKCP

Certificate in Groupwork tutor

Michael is a psychotherapist, trainer, supervisor and consultant with over thirty years of experience. He has a background in social work and youth work including therapeutic work with families and children. He also has extensive experience of training design and delivery, predominantly in the public and voluntary sector. His MA is in organisational consultancy from the Tavistock and he works with teams and organisations in the health service as well as the private sector and with voluntary agencies. He has been involved with the Gestalt Centre for over 30 years, as a faculty member and for 15 years as Managing Director. He is now a visiting tutor and runs the Groupwork programmes. Whilst continuing his psychotherapy, counselling and supervision practice he also provides training in groupwork for different agencies and facilitates groups for community leaders.

Jane Puddy UKCP HCPC

Jane Puddy has a background in Drama Therapy, Family Therapy and Group Analysis. She works in a variety of social work, psychiatric and forensic settings, contributing to the development of Counselling and Psychotherapy courses internationally. She is also an Organisational Consultant.

Her relationship with the Gestalt Centre spans 33 years so far during which time she has been both a Director and Faculty member. She currently runs our Diploma in Supervision along with her good friend and colleague, Gaie Houston.

As Chair of our Ethics Committee, Jane advises both the Centre and its members on ethical matters.

Jane also hold the title of Honorary Psychotherapist for the Centre for Psychotherapy and Human Rights.

Tony Fraser

Having founded and led his own consultancy business from which he has retired, Tony is now chairman of Mayvin Ltd, an organisation consultancy specialising in OD.

He has held senior leadership positions in large corporations in Human Resources, Strategic Planning and Business Development.

This business track is complemented by psychotherapy training to enable him to work with people on emotional and relationship as well as business issues.

His current work includes:

• Consulting to large organisations on OD issues and assignments
• Coaching senior executives
• Leading the OD faculty at The London Gestalt Centre

Tony is the author of books and articles on interpersonal skills and management development including the Management of Interpersonal Skills Training and Gestalt in Management.

Christina Schuierer

Christina Schuierer is an OD consultant and trainer with 20 years experience of working with public and private organisations worldwide. She has helped development organisations and teams to become more successful in designing and implementing projects on economic development, environmental protection and organisational sustainability and has worked in more than 50 countries in Europe, Africa and Asia.

She is managing a small consulting company based in Berlin, teaches on the faculty of International universities and institutes and is responsible for staff care at the German headquarters of Médecins Sans Frontières. Christina applies the Gestalt Approach to consulting, training, coaching and therapy.

Jonathan Smith MA AFBPsS

Jonathan Smith MA AFBPsS qualified as a Gestalt Psychotherapist with the Gestalt Centre in 1987. He now works with individuals and groups as a therapist, supervisor and trainer. He also works for Birkbeck College, University of London, as a lecturer in psychology, and runs workshops and training events for a number of other colleges and institutes, including the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, the Psychosynthesis Trust, and the City Lit. His therapeutic background includes bodywork and psychosynthesis and he is accredited with AHPP and UKCP.

Angelika Wienrich BA

Angelika Wienrich BA is a Gestalt based integrative Psychotherapist and supervisor with a background in research and Adult education. She has been teaching counselling and Gestalt since 1990 and is now a visiting tutor for the Gestalt Centre’s BACP accredited Diploma in Counselling, as well as at Naos, teaching on a postgraduate Diploma in Neurosomatic Psychotherapy. She runs our Gestalt in Action and Free Fall – Creative Writing as Therapy weekends. She writes and was a founder member of Playback South for 20 years.
She was a staff counsellor at Hammersmith hospital for 3 years and has been working in private practice since 1988. As well working with individuals, couples and groups, recognising the need for support and community her work has evolved to include mentoring for a broad spectrum of practitioners in ongoing groups.

David Zigmond

David Zigmond trained initially in Medicine in the 1960s. From the 1970s he trained in both psychoanalytic and humanistic psychotherapies – he was among the first UK students of Gestalt and Transactional Analysis. For several decades he has worked as a frontline NHS Practitioner: as Psychotherapist, Psychiatrist and GP. His teaching has engaged a broad range of health professionals and psychotherapists. His wide-ranging publications explore neglected aspects of holistic psychological and social care. His practice, writing and teaching continue an imperfectable quest: how do we best combine art and science?