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 The 2010 lecture by Dr Sally Denham-Vaughan:The Liminal Space: an opening to transformational shift This lecture is an opportunity to reflect on how the theory and practice of gestalt psychotherapy has changed and refocussed since I trained with Marianne Fry (and Dr Malcolm Parlett), some 25 years ago. I have experienced this change in a number of ways, including a shift from an ego-based approach to a more emergent 'id'-orientated therapy, and from 'masculine' left-brain action towards 'feminine' right-brain receptivity. I focuss on a theme that I have explored within my writing: namely, the move from a Fritz Perls-type of agentic therapy to a more relational, aesthetically orientated approach that increasingly works with structures of ground, and from "Will" towards "Grace" [see Denham-Vaughan, British Gestalt Journal, 2005]. I reconsider the often-taught 'cycle of experience' in the light of these changes. I demonstrate how redirecting attention from figure to ground, from doing to being and from action to stillness opens up an unexplored liminal space – an instant in being and time when the client is specifically contained and worked with while on the threshold of a change process, rather than mobilised or enabled into action. The liminal space is rich in possibilities and potential that could not have been thought of or anticipated. Following the morning’s lecture and lunch, there was an experiential exploration of issues raised in the lecture, led by Sally Denham-Vaughan. Dr Sally Denham-Vaughan, DPsych, UKCP Registered Psychotherapist, is a clinical counselling and coaching psychologist and gestalt psychotherapist, trainer, supervisor and writer. She holds a senior managerial position in an NHS. At the Metanoia Institute in London she is a primary tutor on the Gestalt Psychotherapy Masters Programme, an academic advisor on the Doctoral Programme and joint course director of the Organisational Gestalt Diploma Programme. She is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the British Gestalt Journal, Organisational Faculty Member and Board Advisor at the Relational Center in Los Angeles and International Faculty Associate at the Pacific Gestalt Institute.
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