Following the nesting and hibernation of winter, daylight begins to trickle into our evenings as we emerge and renew our spirit and energy. Yet alongside this, the social and cultural field continues to wrestle with uncertainties.
In Ireland, public discourse continues around housing, healthcare, social justice, and the evolving field of community life. As this occurs, we know there are also moments of collective coming together, these quieter forms of community engagement that do not always make headlines but are no less significant. In the image above, you can see a snapshot of our social media channels that reflect our current efforts to support the fertile void and increase marginalised field conditions. These remind us that our field harbours both fragmentation and cohesion.
Spring, in this sense, is not only a metaphor for growth, but also for vulnerability. New shoots emerge in uncertain weather. Similarly, new ways of being, relating, and responding are tentative and require support. The question becomes not simply what is happening, but how we meet what is happening.
Below, you will find information on our current initiatives and CPD offerings that you may wish to support and join.
Fundraising appeal
We would like to express our sincere, enduring gratitude to those of you who have already contributed to our appeal in support of our colleagues in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian colleagues we are supporting have never had the opportunity to be together in person: to rest, to ground themselves, and to reconnect safely with their bodies and with one another.
We have begun consulting with our colleagues in Ukraine to formulate how this money will support them, and we look forward to updating you in the coming newsletters and social media posts about how this money has been spent.
If you would like to contribute to this significant offering of community, you can do so by clicking on the image above.
Upcoming CPD
As part of our Living and Working in the Margins series, we continue to cultivate events that engage with innovative themes while creating space for reflection, learning, and professional development.
We look forward to welcoming Alessandra Merizzi to the Institute for an immersive weekend workshop in September. Alessandra will offer an exploration of the phenomenology of ageing, inviting us to reimagine life transitions as sites of vitality, creativity, and renewal. Through embodied and movement-based practices, the weekend will deepen awareness of how ageing is lived, perceived, and relationally co-created. This unique offering provides practitioners with an opportunity to expand their understanding of ageing, both critically and experientially, within personal and therapeutic contexts.
We are also delighted to offer an opportunity to explore embodied, movement-based supervision with Julianne Appel-Opper. This intimate, experiential CPD event is limited to just 14 participants, with only five places remaining.
As some of these events have limited availability, we encourage you to secure your place early and take advantage of our early-bird offers.
We are currently developing further CPD opportunities, which we look forward to sharing with you in the coming months.
You can find more information by clicking on the images.
Those of you who have graduated from the Gestalt Institute of Ireland will have received an email in recent weeks outlining how our Alumni events are evolving. We look forward to welcoming you to these new iterations as we continue to support the development and nurturing of a vibrant Alumni community.
We warmly encourage you to respond if you are interested in taking part.
We look forward to staying connected and sharing more with you as the year continues.
Warm wishes,
Gestalt Institute of Ireland