Portland Gestalt Therapy Institute

Carol Swanson, LCSW

Executive Director of PGTI

Carol has trained in Gestalt therapy for over 30 years. Originally, she studied with Isadore From, known as the dean of Gestalt therapy. Carol also studied at the Gestalt Therapy Institute of Los Angeles, and was a trainer assistant in their local program and their European Residential Program for four years. She has studied extensively with Lynne Jacobs, integrating the influences of self-psychololgy and contemporary analytic thinking with Gestalt therapy. Carol has had ongoing consultation with Philip Lichtenberg from Philadelphia for fifteen years. She has presented at numerous national conferences and was on the planning committee for the first Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy (AAGT) conference, and is co-founder of the Portland Gestalt Training Institute. Carol coordinated and taught at five Portland Gestalt Training Institute European residential programs, and was a guest trainer at the Gestalt Institute in Perth, Australia. She co-authored an article on Gestalt Therapy Diagnosis that was published in the Gestalt Journal. Carol has been in private practice in Portland, Oregon for twenty-five years. When asked the familiar question, "Don’t you ever get tired of listening to people’s problems?" Carol’s response is: "Therapy is play. It is being actively and fully engaged with another person. It is finding and meeting the other person with all the challenges and rewards that happen in the encounter. It is an immensely rewarding endeavor." Carol lives in southwest Portland with her husband, cat and various recreational sports equipment.

Jeffrey Sher, LCSW, PsyD

PGTI Faculty

Jeffrey is a psychologist in private practice in Portland, Oregon.
He was an original member of the group in Portland that studied intensively with Isadore From, as well as an attendee of the residential Program with the Gestalt Training Center in San Diego
with Erv and Miriam Polster. He has also trained with Jim Simkin, Bob Martin, Lynne Jacobs, and Bob Resnick. He is an adjunct
faculty member at the School of Professional Psychology of Pacific University. Jeffrey has a deep interest in contemporary psychoanalytic theory and practice, with particular interest in finding points of integration and complementarity with Gestalt therapy. His 1989 doctoral dissertation, Gestalt Therapy and Development: A Critical and Theoretical Review, reflects this interest. He has presented at the AAGT and Gestalt Journal national conferences, and has presented workshops and training in Gestalt Therapy since 1982.

Mark Fairfield, LCSW, BCD

PGTI Guest Faculty

Mark Fairfield is the founder of the Center for Relational Studies in Gestalt Therapy. The Center is currently in the process of developing a variety of programs for consumers of mental health services, for students of Gestalt therapy seeking advanced clinical training, and for non-profit organizations in need of capacity building. Mark has contributed to the theory of Gestalt group therapy and has developed a Gestalt model for working with substance-using, multi-diagnosed and indigent persons within a harm-reduction paradigm. Prior to founding CRSGT, Mark worked to design comprehensive care services and to provide clinical support and supervision to a diverse range of professional and paraprofessional social service providers using a relational Gestalt therapy framework. Mark is the current president of the Gestalt Therapy Institute of Los Angeles.

© 2005 Portland Gestalt Therapy Institute