It is well known that the Psychology of Ageing is a young discipline and it is even more so in the psychotherapy field. Literature offers numerous books and publications on how to work therapeutically with ageing clients from different therapeutic models, however little is available on Gestalt therapy and later life (e.g. Meulmeester, 2013; Woldt and Stein, 1997).

Drawing on my experience as clinical psychologist and Gestalt psychotherapist, I have recently attempted to join the two fields and explore the process of ageing from the Gestalt therapy lens.

After having successfully delivered Community Workshops on Gestalt and the process of ageing in 2018, and international webinars on the theme of ageing and ageism in 2019 (for the Russian association Psy4Psy), I have written a chapter “Gestalt psychotherapy and ageing” which has been published in “Psychopathology of the Situation in Gestalt Therapy” by Spagnuolo Lobb and Cavaleri (available in Italian and English). This was an opportunity for me to mature some theoretical ideas linked to clinical work.

The latest webinars introduced some of the most recently developed theoretical points which were further explored through experiential exercises and thought-provoking discussions with the participants. Some of their comments are:

“Thanks for delivering the workshop – I got a LOT from it… I plan to read more around this topic…”

“… exercises helped to come across so different feelings, and webinar by and large encouraged to be braver in exploration of aging…”

“I enjoyed your seminar the material presented has sparked plenty of reflections.”

“Well done for highlighting an important diversity issue and ways of working with this.”