ABSTRACT
Experimentation in gestalt therapy does not have to be limited to the therapy session. As well as updating outdated creative adjustments through heightening awareness of the present situation the aims of gestalt therapy include extending the client’s awareness continuum to enable them to find alternative supports and fully utilise existing supports. New relational skills and abilities that emerge from increased awareness in therapy need practice beyond the therapy space and with such practice there are pitfalls. For example, clients who have just discovered an ability to assert themselves may over-stretch into aggressive or over-assertive relating or receive a hostile response. Homework can mistakenly be seen as the domain of the behaviourists but for generations of gestalt therapists it has been part of their repertoire of experiments. Experimenting with new behaviours is a key part of gestalt therapy in heightening the client’s awareness.
