Working relationally with teams, organisations and systems
About us
At Relational Skills, we specialise in providing tailored training, coaching, and professional development services designed to empower teams, coaches, consultants, and leaders. Our primary goal is to equip individuals with the tools they need to thrive in their professional lives and foster harmonious workplace relationships.
Our approach is rooted in the principles of Gestalt theory and practices, which emphasise heightened awareness, meaningful connections, and life-affirming strategies to enhance collaboration, stress management, adaptability, and inspire peak performance within groups, teams and organisations.
We are a diverse team with a wealth of knowledge and experience. Our expertise enables us to customise our services to align with the unique needs and objectives of your organisation.
Our unique approach
At Relational Skills, our approach draws from over 25 years of experience in training therapists through our renowned 4-year program conducted in collaboration with Gestalt Therapy Australia (GTA). Our training programs have been developed to address the intricate challenges that teams, managers and leaders often encounter in organisational settings. This includes topics like conflict resolution, psychological safety, courageous conversations, change management, and the optimisation of both individual and team performance.
Our team stands ready to provide support and training to enhance your existing skills while equipping you with new dialogical techniques. These techniques are specifically designed to foster meaningful interactions and engagement between individuals, enhancing overall workplace dynamics.
What does a Gestalt approach offer for professional growth?
Gestalt theory and practice emphasises present-moment awareness, holistic self-exploration, and makes use of practical, experiential techniques to empower people to make meaningful changes in their lives and work. It offers a distinctive and highly effective approach to personal and professional development.
Our programs and workshops incorporate Gestalt theory and techniques
- In-the-moment awareness: Gestalt places a strong emphasis on being present in the moment. We use techniques to help people become more aware of their thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations as they happen, leading to greater self-awareness and the potential for more profound insights.
- Enhanced problem solving: Through its focus on awareness and experiential learning, Gestalt helps people explore and resolve personal or professional issues in a way that often leads to more sustainable solutions.
- Emphasis on self-responsibility: Gestalt encourages people to take responsibility for their actions and choices. It helps people recognise their own agency and empowers them to make decisions and take actions aligned with their values and goals.
- Focus on the here and now: Gestalt focuses on the "here and now." It enables people to address immediate concerns and opportunities, making it highly practical for addressing real-time challenges.
- Tailored and person-centered: Gestalt is highly tailored to the individual and their specific needs, making it a personalised approach that can address a wide range of challenges.
A professional trained in these techniques brings a unique sense of embodied awareness to the work they do with their colleagues.
Our Team
Tony Jackson
Tony is a psychotherapist, supervisor and trainer. He provides supervision for psychotherapists which assists them to deepen their own personal and professional capacities. Tony also provides training for individuals and groups that focuses on building responsiveness to individual and group needs in emergent situations.
Eva Deligiannis
Eva is a psychotherapist, supervisor and organisational consultant. Eva develops and leads programs using an organisational Gestalt approach for teams, leaders and coaches. Eva has worked as an organisation consultant for the last 25 years specialising in the area of change management and organisational development.
Tony and Eva lead a group of local and overseas experts in the areas of leadership development, executive & team coaching and organisational development that support the work delivered by Relational Skills.
Consulting services
Our programs and workshops are fully customisable and can be tailored to meet the needs of organisational development consultants, coaches, change managers, people leaders, team leaders, and others who lead and support individuals working towards shared objectives. We specialise in delivering workshops and training in the following areas.
- Mental health and stress management programs: Providing strategies and support for managing mental health and stress in the workplace.
- Team building workshops: Fostering collaboration, communication, and synergy within teams.
- Reflective practice sessions: Encouraging self-reflection and self-awareness to enhance professional growth.
- Coaching and coaching supervision: Equipping individuals with coaching skills and providing ongoing support for improvement.
- Supporting courageous conversations: Developing the ability to engage in difficult discussions and building resilience in the workplace.
- Change management approaches: Offering strategies that emphasise early engagement and team participation in the change process.
- Introduction to Gestalt ideas in the workplace: Enhancing conversational skills at work through an introduction to Gestalt principles.
Our experience and rich history in the field of Gestalt therapy and human development enables us to create workshops that are not only theoretically grounded but also highly experiential and practical.
With a legacy of over 25 years in training therapists we have honed our expertise in Gestalt principles and practices. We have a deep understanding of the human condition, combined with practical insights gained from years of working with individuals, teams, and organisations. We bring this wealth of experience to each workshop, ensuring that participants receive relevant and effective training.
Our commitment to excellence, continuous learning, and staying at the forefront of human development practices makes us a trusted partner for organisations and professionals seeking transformative and impactful workshops.
Register your interest by contacting us here
Our coaching services
Gestalt coaching is a unique and powerful form of coaching that has an emphasis on present-moment awareness, holistic self-exploration, and makes use of practical, experiential techniques to empower people to make meaningful changes in their lives and work. It offers a distinctive and highly effective approach to personal and professional development.
Relational Skills is partnering with Gestalt Coaching Works
Dorothy E. Siminovitch, PhD, MCC is a founder, champion, leader, and has been instrumental in evolving Gestalt Coaching in the global professional coaching field. She is an international coach and consultant, Director of Training for the Gestalt Center for Coaching's ICF-ACTP Gestalt Coaching Program, and a valued speaker and presenter.
Read more at https://gestaltcoachingworks.com/
2023-2024: Webinar series with Dorothy Siminovitch
In 2024, we are offering a series of online webinars led by Dorothy Siminovitch. These webinars will introduce the foundational tools and skills of Gestalt coaching. The bi-monthly webinars will focus on three key areas:
- Building awareness and vivid presence (self as instrument): enhancing your self-awareness and presence.
- Working with resistance (cycle of experience): addressing challenges and resistance in the coaching process.
- Experimenting and working with growing edges (unit of work): exploring personal and professional growth opportunities.
2025: Relational Gestalt Coaching Program™
In 2025, we are offering the Relational Gestalt Coaching Program™ through Gestalt Coaching Works. This program, accredited by the International Coaching Federation (ICF), is led by Dorothy Siminovitch, a Master Certified Coach and the founder of Gestalt Coaching Works. The program is designed to help participants achieve ICF certification.
Grounded in core Gestalt values, the program emphasises that awareness of oneself and others, within the context of possibilities, enables effective coaching. We believe that a coach's support and presence play a vital role in assisting people work towards achievable, believable, concrete, and deliverable goals.
The Gestalt Coaching Program™ will primarily be delivered online starting in mid-2025. Participants should have professional work experience or prior experience in executive or organisational coaching and be capable of engaging at a university-level, both cognitively and experientially.
What the program offers:
- 60 hours of training delivered over two 4-day sessions.
- A faculty-led practice session each day.
- An online experiential learning environment designed for effective learning and integration
Events
Reflective practice groups
We host reflective practice groups year-round to nurture career and personal development.
These groups provide a safe and supportive space where you can tackle workplace challenges, explore self-awareness, and simultaneously enhance your coaching and intervention abilities. What sets our reflective practice groups apart is our distinct Gestalt approach. We emphasise the holistic nature of personal and professional growth, encouraging participants to delve deeper into their experiences, emotions, and the context of their dilemmas. This unique approach promotes profound insights and a heightened understanding of self and others, ultimately leading to more meaningful and effective interventions in your professional and leadership roles.
These small groups are for 10 sessions and are held monthly at 622 Lygon Street Carlton North or online .
Upcoming events
Resources
Links to organisations offering holistic and practical approaches to organisational change and development grounded in Gestalt theory and practice.
Relational Change (UK)
Relational Change is an international training and consulting practice based in London. They developed Relational Organisational Gestalt (ROG) which is a holistic and practical approach to facilitating organisational and individual change.
http://www.relationalchange.org
Gestalt Institute Cleveland
GIC offers professional and personal development programs that apply Gestalt principles to business, health care, education, government, community, and religious organisations.
https://www.gestaltcleveland.org
Gestalt OSD
Gestalt Organization & Systems Development (Gestalt OSD) provides a body of knowledge composed of Gestalt theory, concepts, and methods and have created unique training programs for coaches leaders and individuals.