About Us

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE GESTALT INSTITUTE OF TORONTO
Harvey Freedman was an established psychiatrist in Toronto when he met Fritz Perls at the Esalen Institute in California in 1965. At Esalen, Dr. Frederick (Fritz) Perls impressed his students with therapy training that was unique, dynamic and on the leading edge. He incorporated contact with the therapist into the client’s work and was well known for his “hot seat” method in group therapy.

Dr. Perls, originally a Freudian analyst, was influenced by the principles of Gestalt psychology and existential philosophy, and by the many new approaches developing in the late 1960’s. Dr. Freedman studied with him until September 1969, at which time Dr. Perls, then at Lake Cowichan in British Colombia, appointed Dr. Freedman as Clinical Director of his Gestalt Institute in Canada on Vancouver Island – a position he planned to take up the following year.

When Perls died in March 1970 Dr. Freedman and his family cancelled their plans to move to Vancouver Island. Instead, in September 1970, with the help of Dr. Harold Silver and Dr. Peter Brawley, he founded the Gestalt Institute of Toronto and established a space at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto. The Institute was granted the last non-profit charter ever issued by the Department of Health of Ontario.

These were very exciting times – Dr. Freedman’s unique perspective, pure sense of Gestalt, and creative and sensitive application of Gestalt as a therapy had a powerful and much valued impact on the lives of his students and participants in group therapy.

In 1971, during a trip to Mexico, Dr. Freedman met Jorge Rosner, who had trained at the Gestalt Institute of Chicago under Fritz Perls. At that time Rosner was a contemporary and colleague of Virginia Satir, Alexander Lowen, and Alan Watts. Dr. Freedman invited Rosner to come to Toronto to give a demonstration workshop, which was very well received. Dr. Freedman then invited Rosner to join the Faculty of the new institute. The work they did drew large numbers of students to the program. Together with other Faculty members they developed an approach to training leaders and therapists, which continues as the basis of present day programming at the Institute. Dr. Freedman once described Jorge Rosner as one of the most naturally brilliant therapists he had ever known.

When Dr. Freedman left in 1975, Jorge Rosner took over as Executive Director. Rosner lived Gestalt and incorporated his background in drama, various forms of bodywork, and his study of Tibetan Buddhism into his work. He also founded, taught, and practiced at Gestalt institutes in Scandinavia and Australia, along with teaching in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Mexico, Poland, The Netherlands, England, and Greece. With the support of loyal students and graduates, Rosner continued to lead the Gestalt Institute of Toronto until his death in May 1994.

JoAnne Greenham took over as Executive Director and Head of Faculty in 1995. JoAnne studied with both Harvey Freedman and Jorge Rosner, graduating from the GIT in 1977. She was also a member of the Faculty at the institutes in Sweden and Denmark for eight years. JoAnne is a graduate of the University of Toronto and has had many years of clinical experience in a wide variety of settings.

The Gestalt Institute of Toronto is a private educational institute and a registered charitable organization with a seven-member Board of Directors that works with the Faculty to establish policy and direct planning. All tuition fees and donations are deductible for income tax purposes as permitted under the Canadian Federal Income Tax Act.