The Hellenic Association for Gestalt Therapy is paving the way for an interdisciplinary dialogue aimed at fostering an inclusive and multidimensional understanding of gender and sexuality.
The purpose of the conference is to inform, familiarize, and educate mental health professionals on issues related to gender, sexuality, and relationship diversity. In doing so, it seeks to strengthen affirmative therapeutic practices, safeguard mental
health, and promote social inclusion and resilience.
The Conference Organizing Committee invites scholars and researchers from the fields of Psychology, Biology, Medicine, Social and Human Sciences, and Gender Studies to engage in a shared exploration of gendered experience and the many facets of sexuality in individual lives, viewed through the lens of the psychotherapeutic process.
Below are some indicative thematic areas of the conference:
● Foundations of Understanding: The Spectrum of Gender and Sexuality
Familiarization of psychotherapists with fundamental knowledge on issues of gender and sexuality, recognition of the broader social field, and understanding of the diverse experiences of psychotherapy clients.
Inclusion of matters related to gender-based and sexual violence, social stereotypes, and the factors that shape the experience and lived reality of identity.
● Multiple Identities and Roles (Intersectionality): How They Are Experienced by the Individual and How We Encounter Them in Therapy
How multiple identities (gender, sexuality, race, class, ethnicity, disability) are shaped, experienced, and intersect on a social level, as well as the effects of the contemporary context (e.g., digital reality). How intersectionality fosters awareness of social inequality, exclusion, and gender-based violence—phenomena encountered in the therapy room.
● Developmental Pathways: Understanding Gender and Sexuality Across the Lifespan
Exploration of gender and sexuality as they evolve throughout the lifespan, including neurodiverse experiences, within the context of the psychotherapeutic process. Reflection on forms of violence (e.g., domestic, school-related, online), oppression, and stigma that affect identity development, safety, and the capacity for contact.
● Therapeutic Approaches and Ethics: From Trauma to Affirmative Therapy
Deepening into clinical practice, trauma treatment, and ethical complexities. Approaching issues of gender-based and sexual violence, secondary trauma, and power dynamics within the therapeutic relationship. The awareness of psychotherapists, the cultivation of safety, and the exploration of their blind spots as prerequisites for affirmative and embodied therapy.
● Let’s Talk About Sex: Sexual Diversity and Relationships in Adults and Adolescents
Exploration of a range of sexual expressions and the inclusion of sexual life in psychotherapy. Recognition of power relations, control, consent, and possible abuse, as well as the role of shame, silence, and desire in the therapeutic process.