AoEC Conference 2009 Presentation overview. Marion Gillie & Marjorie Shackleton. The presentation covers ethical and professional considerations when working with clients' emotional material in the course of executive coaching. It considers when coaching becomes therapy, and what the implications are for the coach. References are included, together with a link to a longer paper on the subject.

1. Gestalt Coaching or Gestalt Therapy?
Gestalt Coaching or Gestalt Therapy?
Ethical and Professional Considerations
Ethical and Professional Considerations
on Entering theon EnteringWorld of the Client
Emotional the
Emotional World of the Client
Marion Gillie & Marjorie Shackleton
Marion Gillie & Marjorie Shackleton

2. Outline of a presentation at the
Academy of Executive Coaching
Conference
September 2009, London
Gestalt Coaching or Gestalt Therapy? Marion Gillie & Marjorie Shackleton. AoEC conference presentation, September 2009

3. Our Gestalt approach to engaging with
the Emotional World
Aim is to raise awareness of what really matters and
to mobilise energy for the appropriate actions to meet
real needs, by…

Working with client's immediate experience in the
here and now

Sharing your own observations, reactions, images

Suggesting experiments that raise awareness or
mobilising energy for action
The human body is the gateway to the client's affect,
so Gestalt is more likely to evoke emotional responses
than some other approaches
Gestalt Coaching or Gestalt Therapy? Marion Gillie & Marjorie Shackleton. AoEC conference presentation, September 2009

4. When does coaching become therapy?

When the client thinks it's therapy?

When we move from working on current
relationships to working on past relationships?

When your intent is to 'cure' the past: resolve the
unfinished?

When we work with anyone who is not healthy and
wishes to grow (e.g. the worried well, the neurotic,
the psychotic?)

When the presenting issue is personal and/or
emotional?
Gestalt Coaching or Gestalt Therapy? Marion Gillie & Marjorie Shackleton. AoEC conference presentation, September 2009

5. Questions

Certain kinds of coaching require a level of
psychological competence, without necessarily
requiring coaches to become psychologists or
psychotherapists. (Bluckert; Lee; Milan & West;
Gillie & Shackleton). Do you agree?

Is there a place for therapy within coaching?

What questions arise in the course of your
conversation?
Gestalt Coaching or Gestalt Therapy? Marion Gillie & Marjorie Shackleton. AoEC conference presentation, September 2009

6. Conversation groups
a) In your coaching work, when would it be appropriate to explore
childhood influences? How do you do this? Can you articulate your
rationale for doing so?
b) Does working with strong emotions equal therapy? Your client arrives
furious about something that's happened/breaks down in tears… what
do you do?/not do? What do you attend to and why? Where do you
draw the line in terms of your own expertise in your ability to work
with emotional material?
c) In terms of personal issues, what would you work on/not work on
with a client? What do you currently contract for upfront in terms of
the potential for coaching to touch on personal/emotional areas?
d) When would you decide to suggest therapy to someone and not take
them on as a coachee? When would you offer a referral as well as
taking them on as a coachee? Do you know what resources are
available to offer a client further support (inside, beyond their
organisation)? And if you do make a recommendation but they don't
take you up on it… what do you do?
Gestalt Coaching or Gestalt Therapy? Marion Gillie & Marjorie Shackleton. AoEC conference presentation, September 2009

7. Fact…
…internalised messages from childhood (fixed
Gestalts) do impact adult effectiveness at work.
However, a critical question to ask is: Who is the work
in service of?
Therapist: "the client sitting in front of me"
Executive Coach: "the client sitting in front of me,
their organisation and the
relationship between the two"
Gestalt Coaching or Gestalt Therapy? Marion Gillie & Marjorie Shackleton. AoEC conference presentation, September 2009

8. Our conclusion…
…helping a client to make the links between past and
present and breaking the 'hold' the past may have is
part of our work
And, therefore, our responsibility is…
…to do this ethically and professionally, fully
contracted, within our expertise and fully grounded in
the client's present
Gestalt Coaching or Gestalt Therapy? Marion Gillie & Marjorie Shackleton. AoEC conference presentation, September 2009

9. The Gestalt approach to engaging with
the Emotional World
"The Gestalt coaching encounter offers a safe arena
where vulnerability, strong emotions, and failure can
play themselves out in the service of learning and
growth"
(Siminovich & Van Eron, 2006)
Gestalt Coaching or Gestalt Therapy? Marion Gillie & Marjorie Shackleton. AoEC conference presentation, September 2009

10. Overall conclusions

Internalised messages from childhood do impact
adult effectiveness, making links is part of our work

Some approaches intentionally focus on affect, so be
clear and grounded in your practice

Know why you do what you do

Contract for the work at all levels and at all stages

Know how to re-ground a client in the present

Know your limitations and have good supervision
Gestalt Coaching or Gestalt Therapy? Marion Gillie & Marjorie Shackleton. AoEC conference presentation, September 2009

11. References
Bluckert, P. (2006) Psychological Dimensions of Executive Coaching. London:
Open University Press, McGraw-Hill.
Gillie, M. & Shackleton, M. (in press) Gestalt Coaching or Gestalt Therapy? Ethical
and Professional Considerations on Entering the Emotional World of the Coaching
Client.
(a copy of this paper is available for download at
http://www.thegilliepartnership.co.uk/Gestalt-coaching-or-Gestalt-Therapy.pdf )
Lee, G. (2003) Leadership Coaching: From Personal Insight to Organisational
Performance. London: CIPD.
Milan, M. & West, L. (2001) The Reflecting Glass. Hampshire: Palgrave.
Siminovich, D. & Van Eron, A.M. (2006) The Pragmatics of Magic: The Work of
Gestalt Coaching. OD Practicioner, Vol 37:4.
Gestalt Coaching or Gestalt Therapy? Marion Gillie & Marjorie Shackleton. AoEC conference presentation, September 2009

12. Presenter biographies
Marion Gillie has a background in organisation development, works
internationally as a coach and organisational consultant, and is based in the UK.
She is a Chartered Occupational Psychologist and Gestalt Psychotherapist, with
Masters degrees in Organisational Psychology and Gestalt Psychotherapy. She is
Programme Director of the Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Executive Coaching
and the Master Practitioner Programme at the Academy of Executive Coaching in
the UK, and she is a coach supervisor for programmes at Oxford Brookes
University Business School. Marion is also a 'Next Generation' Faculty member of
the Gestalt International Study Center in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Marjorie Shackleton has a Masters degree in Social Work from the University of
Kansas. She spent the first part of her career as a clinical social worker and
systemic family therapist in the U.S. before returning to the UK where she trained
and practised as a Gestalt Psychotherapist before taking advanced coach training.
She now works as an executive coach and coach supervisor. She is a senior
Faculty member of The Academy of Executive Coaching and core faculty for
Certificate Programmes in Gestalt Coaching Skills and the Psychology of Coaching.
She also teaches on the MSc in Executive Coaching at the University of
Portsmouth Business School.
Gestalt Coaching or Gestalt Therapy? Marion Gillie & Marjorie Shackleton. AoEC conference presentation, September 2009

13. Contact details
Marion Gillie Marjorie Shackleton
marion.gillie@TheGilliePartnership.co.uk Marjorie@ms-coaching.com
www.TheGilliePartnership.co.uk
Gestalt Coaching or Gestalt Therapy? Marion Gillie & Marjorie Shackleton. AoEC conference presentation, September 2009