The here and now of Gestalt therapy + trauma with Miriam Taylor
Bio
Miriam Taylor is a UKCP registered Gestalt psychotherapist, supervisor and trainer who has been in private practice since 1995. Her background was in adult education before training as a counsellor and psychotherapist.
Working as clinical lead of a young peoples’ service pointed her towards specializing in trauma, and for several years she worked in a specialist trauma service.
Miriam’s particular interest is in the relational integration of trauma and the role of the body. She teaches in the UK and internationally, is an Academic Consultant and examiner for Metanoia Institute, London, and is an associate of Relational Change. Publications include ‘Trauma Therapy and Clinical Practice: Neuroscience, Gestalt and the Body’ published by the Open University Press in 2014.
The Quote
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.
Mary Oliver, Wild Geese
What Led to the Specialization of Trauma?
Miriam began her work with empowering women, which then led to further training and eventually working with individuals who had been traumatized. Soon, Miriam learned that the work would require and demand even more training in other modalities including neuroscience.
A Crucial Early Mistake
Miriam shares the story of working with an early client and talks about being too enthusiastic in implementing interventions.
Miriam’s Why
This has changed over time… Initially, I think there was something that I needed to work out in myself through the work.. Now, I’m interested in being a part in the great trauma work that is out there.
Miriam’s advice
- Do your own work! Looking at yourself and your own vulnerabilities and what you’re bringing into the relationship.
- Get some specific neuroscientific, body-based education
- Get good supervision
- Take care of yourself
Miriam’s go-to books
- The Haunted Self: Structural Dissociation and the Treatment of Chronic Traumatization (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology), Onno van der Hart
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