Brian McMinn: Gestalt Therapy Workshops

I am Irish but have lived in the northwest of England for over 20 years. After originally qualifying as a person-centred counsellor in 1994, I worked in GP practices in the northwest and in north Wales before working in London at the Beverley Clinic. I was then invited to teach, part-time, on counselling courses at Oldham College, and progressed to a full-time post as programme leader for the counselling diploma. Subsequently, I worked full-time as lecturer and joint course leader at University of Salford for a number of years before deciding to leave teaching and focus on providing therapy. In 2006, I qualified as a Gestalt psychotherapist (Manchester Gestalt Centre and Metanoia Institute). Gestalt theory and practice is fascinating, and the thoroughness of the training, which is accredited by Gestalt Psychotherapy & Training Institute, makes it a highly respected and powerful approach. At a recent estimate, I have worked therapeutically with over 8000 clients for an average of ten sessions each. I would like to say that therapy was successful with all – but not quite, I’m sure. At University of Liverpool, where I work part-time, the CORE-OM system is used to assess outcomes, and my work has a high success rate. I have two teenage sons, and I’m an avid football fan and watch a lot of it. Recently I had the pleasure of working for Everton Football Club with some of their first team. I read a lot of non-fiction, watch Netflix, enjoy photography, walk our spaniel, Daisy, and exercise regularly. I got into counselling and therapy over 25 years ago when I decided to face my own personal problems. I needed a lot of help and to my surprise, and initial scepticism, it worked well for me. I feel transformed by this experience (it was long term and not always easy). From this experience I developed an endless fascination for psychotherapy. I was fortunate to have been a client to some very capable therapists, to whom I am more than grateful.