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• W4210533743 abstract "The dust jacket summary of Philip Brownell's Gestalt Psychotherapy and Coaching for Relationships states that this book “provides therapists and coaches with a thorough understanding of two-person dynamics and offers practical interventions for working with couples and the two-person teams within larger organizations.” While there were nuggets of valuable learning throughout the book, we found the thread that connected them to be tangled by esoteric language, gaps in connection, more information on hermeneutic methodology than necessary, and misrepresentations of coaching.In the introduction, the author states that the book is intended for an audience of “the Gestalt community, Gestalt therapists, Gestalt-oriented coaches, and organizational consultants” (4); and that it is about “working in a Gestalt therapeutic or coaching fashion with relationships” (5). The idea of “coaching fashion” may create a perspective for the reader that coaching is a technique to be used with other therapeutic modalities, rather than a recognized modality for supporting clients to maximize their potential. Additionally, this and other statements might encourage the reader to conflate therapy and coaching and not recognize them as separate but similar modalities. The author does clearly state that this volume “is not the be all and end all on this subject. It is not exhaustive; it is suggestive” (5). And his writing definitely hints at something more, providing thorough reference lists and opportunities for interpretation. Nevertheless, we experienced a lack of continuity in extending and connecting the philosophical foundations laid out in the first two chapters through the more practical chapters of Part II.Brownell's goal in Chapter 1, “An Orientation to Contemporary Gestalt Therapy,” is “a description of contemporary Gestalt therapy theory, … a basic orientation to Gestalt process … evident in both therapy and coaching” (4). There are passages that provide a useful orientation to Gestalt theory and practice; the reader's experience, however, is also diverted into Cartesian philosophy, Husserl, Heidegger, multiple personal anecdotes, M-theory, and relativity. Since this is a book about Gestalt coaching and therapy for relationships, the reader's experience would be more robust if the connections between the main body of Gestalt theory and dyadic/couples therapy were elucidated. Brownell states, however, that “not a great deal has been written about specifically concerning a Gestalt approach to dyadic, or couples work,” and what is available is dated (9). Regardless, it would be of value for the reader to understand why those perspectives may be dated, and how a more “modern” Gestalt perspective on working with couples might arise. Figures that create visual orientation to the process nature of Gestalt would allow the reader to connect more deeply with concepts like: “The Basic Theoretical Structure of Contemporary Gestalt Therapy” (11) from both dyad and triad perspectives; Contacting, Awareness, and Interpretation of Subjective Experience; the analogy between the theory of relativity and the process between therapist and client (33–34). Specific examples of Gestalt techniques—that is, empty chair work, or “becoming” the object to bring what is hidden or unaware in the clients phenomenally into awareness—would create deeper connections for the reader between Gestalt theory and practice.Brownell's goal in Chapter 2, “An Orientation to Gestalt-Based Coaching,” is to “point out what elements of Gestalt therapy lend themselves naturally to the process of coaching and can be utilized in a coaching process” (49). He discusses the view of the client, employing a phenomenological approach, facilitating client awareness, and using curiosity to create awareness. Gestalt therapy defines “health” as entailing “a person who is spontaneous (creatively indifferent and available to novel stimuli), often doing the best he or she can with a difficult situation, able to form figures of interest, and capable of pursuing those figures to completion or satisfaction” (50). Brownell takes a pragmatic perspective: “We are all works in progress … so the view of persons in coaching might best be seen to be an attitude held by the coach. … If the coach approaches the client with the attitude that he or she is someone who is a healthy and complete individual capable of responding creatively, then often that is the kind of person who responds” (51). This statement is well-matched with the International Coaching Federation Core Competency (ICFCC) guidelines on “Establishing Trust and Intimacy” (Rating Level, Table 3), which describe the coach position as that of “holding the client in ‘unconditional positive regard.’” The author also describes using a phenomenological approach to “foster the client's move from awareness using id function to awareness during ego function” (52)—thereby allowing the client the space to let go of competing figures and choose intentional figures for coaching sessions.Brownell describes embodied presence as part of his section on “Facilitating the Client's Awareness Through Observation” (53). In this section, however, he also discusses the example of “working with people who are in need of help to deal with various anxieties or compulsions.” He will “suggest they visit a store that sells fragrances … ask them to smell things, and tell them to look for something that sets loose an experience in their body” (53). We assume that he is describing a situation when he is working with clients in a therapeutic rather than coaching relationship, because this type of interaction violates ICFCC guidelines on “Designing Actions”: “Applicant will NOT receive a passing score if: There is little or no co-creation in the process of designing actions. The actions do not have a clear relationship to the client's stated agenda” (Rating Level, Table 9). Since the above example is suggested in a chapter about coaching, readers new to coaching may find it confusing—especially, given Brownell's observations in the next sections: the coach should set aside (1) “premature conceptualizations which actually miss the client”; and (2) “what one perceives and takes note of in the client [that] brings up unresolved issues and old experiences in the coach” (54). Yet Brownell's rational for deep curiosity about the client—“foster deeper contacting, and it will contribute to a dialogical relationship”—does fit clearly with the ICFCC guidelines for “Establishing Trust and Intimacy with the Client” (Master Certified Coach [MCC] Level, Table 3).Brownell opens the aforementioned Chapter 2 with a discussion about the overlap between therapy and coaching. He notes that “if one does the kinds of things coaches are supposed to do (explore the values, strengths, and motivations of clients), one will find oneself increasingly involved in the total life of each one of them and there will be no way to completely factor out the ‘stuff’ that usually comes up in therapy”; and he emphasizes that “One cannot stiffly push the yearnings and disappointments away, saying, ‘Don't tell me that, because I am not your therapist’” (40–41). Given that there is a strong ethical precaution in the coaching and therapy communities, opposing a dual relationship of therapist and coach to the same client (Hullinger and DiGirolamo 2018, 6), we would like to have read a strong case for that precaution. Standing firmly on this ethical ground, we note that the client's therapeutic concerns may be critical revelations for creating a full picture/Gestalt of the client's life for both client and coach. It follows that clients must share what they feel is relevant to the coaching contract, but some of those sharings may be more appropriate for processing in a therapeutic setting. Depending on the client and the situation, it can be useful for the client to share enough background with the coach, so that the client's awareness of what is blocking emerges. Then the coach might support the client creatively to reframe blockages with open-ended, optimistic coaching questions such as: What strengths have you developed from those experiences? In what ways does that experience serve your greater goals? What did you take away from that experience that will allow you to meet your goals? How are you currently using your experiences to move forward? By using questions that heighten the client's awareness of strengths, key learnings, and growth, the client may begin to understand those experiences (of potentially therapeutic concern) as useful in meeting their life and career goals. But this approach does not preclude the need for the client to engage a therapist to help unpack the concerns from a therapeutic perspective. Therefore, the reader would have benefited from a more thorough discussion of the separation between coaching and therapy.The model of coaching discussed in this volume is prefaced with the International Coaching Federation (ICF) definition of coaching, noted in Chapter 2: “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential” (42). There are, nevertheless, multiple descriptions of coaching that the reader might find in conflict with this definition. For example, Gestalt coaching is described as “skill building”; it is said to concern “a relatively smaller picture (with reference to Gestalt therapy)”; and it is indicated that the coach “helps people put realizations [developed in therapy] to work” (41). Brownell also speaks of Gestalt psychotherapy in terms of big-picture and wisdom-building, with an awareness of meaning-making; as opposed to Gestalt coaching, which involves smaller picture, skill building, awareness of action, capability, and competence (41). Finally, he states that the process of Gestalt therapy will “be less directive,” suggesting to the reader that coaching is directive. Therefore, the reader may glean a more I-It/directiveness perspective about coaching from this volume than is accepted by the ICF.The ICF states the following at the MCC level: “The coach evidences a complete curiosity that is undiluted by a need to perform”; and that “[t]he coach is in fully partnered conversation with client” (Rating Level, Table 3). Readers might find the following statements on the part of Brownell in conflict with ICFCC guidelines: In order to do this [learning and accomplishment of results] the coach leads the client. That is the coach takes the responsibility to make sure the time spent in coaching is productive. It must achieve something. This can be understood by considering what the coach does, and this is a matter of identifying what the client desires, what the specific outcome might be, what the implications are of achieving that goal and how the client might know that he or she has experienced success. (42) Other suggestions of unequal partnering between coach and client are found in statements such as these: “… the coach might want to circle back in the intentionality of the client, to understand more clearly what is related to the things the coach has identified in order to reveal what the coachee has not yet begun to see” (45 emphasis added); and “This is not as much about how the coach will hold the coachee accountable as it is how the coach will get the coachee to hold her or himself accountable” (48). These descriptions of coaching seem in opposition to the accepted definitions of coaching from the ICF (stated above); from the 2018 Competency Development Program for Coach Certification at the Gestalt International Study Center: “Coaching is a partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential and desired outcomes”; and from Siminovitch (2017): “Coaching is a collaborative relationship between coach and client which is designed to support the client's acting upon … new possibilities. The coach-client collaboration is one key differentiation from therapy and consulting” (34). Siminovitch goes on to describe the “egalitarian relationship” and “partnership” between coach and client and the distinct core value of “seeing the client as a collaborator in the learning and change process” (35).We hope that readers with coaching experience will recognize these differences in perspective and read on to glean valuable ideas from the case studies described in Part II of the volume. Here, the reader is introduced to situations regarding challenges between dyads and groups. Brownell shares the stories of working with various relationship challenges. But perhaps the reader new to Gestalt, coaching, or psychotherapy would benefit from the teasing out of different ways in which a practitioner might approach these scenarios from either a coaching or psychotherapy perspective. At the end of Chapter 6, “It's Often About the Feedback Loop of Mutual Interpretation,” the reader almost gets the opportunity to have this clarity, but then the author states, “I don't want to do that” (121). Instead, he describes a “unilateral experiment” (122), which we hope the reader recognizes as more of a consulting practice than a coaching practice. Again in Chapter 7, “Turning Around Destructive, Reactive, and Counterproductive Communication,” where Brownell speaks of “teaching the clients to observe and describe,” the reader would benefit from understanding how one might approach all of these situations in relational dynamics from either a psychotherapy approach or a coaching approach. In Chapter 16, “Dyads Within Teams, Families, and Organizations,” the reader is left with some valuable thoughts on Gestalt coaching: “The role of the Gestalt coach is to become an awareness-raising partner” by using observational rather than interpretational language (217–18). Again, however, the description of interactions between clients and coach appear to border on consultation rather than coaching; a reader without robust coach training would benefit from clear differentiation between these two modalities.Brownell closes the volume by urging the Gestalt community to consider Gestalt-specific “process-outcomes” research (224); and Gestalt coaches and therapists to understand how either modality can enhance or distort their practice. If he states the value of having coach training rather than just “do[ing] coaching,” he also accentuates the congruency between a Gestalt approach and coaching because “one cannot work toward a goal at any time but the current moment; goal attainment can be approached in a paradoxical fashion” (227). He notices that after coach training his “practice of Gestalt therapy did become more directive” (228). But he explains his use of “directive” by adding: “I tended to ask clarifying questions … I started trying to clarify what the client came for” (228). We trust that the reader will grasp that the client is the one in the dyad doing the clarifying, though the coach is providing support for the client to do this clarifying.The reader will undoubtedly appreciate Brownell's conclusion: “The second part of this book is filled with partials. There is not a complete story in any of them. … That makes this section of the book useful for the reader's imagination. Go back and fill-in the blanks. Choose how you would have worked and what you would have done with the situations that were presented” (232). Readers looking for further enlightenment will take up this gauntlet and consider how they might have collaborated with a coaching client or interacted in a therapeutic fashion; what their own opinions might be; and which of the many resources Brownell cites they should study next to enhance their own Gestalt practice." @default.
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