Our Faculty

Arleen Maiorano: Executive Director

LCSW, LP, DCSW, Columbia University, is certified in EMDR and Imago Relationship Therapy, has trained in Interactive Group Therapy, and integrates these modalities into her work with individuals, couples, and groups. “I most appreciate Gestalt Therapy’s emphasis on relationship; on the belief that when we meet with fullness and openness, with genuine and unreserved acceptance, we create the ground from which all healing takes place.”

amaioranolcsw@aol.com
www.askarlo.com

Susan Jurkowski: Director of Training

LCSW, LP, ACSW, CGP, BCD, University of Pennslyvania, is an adjunct faculty in the Psychology Department at Brooklyn College. She has a background in feminist psychotherapy, and special interests and training in dreamwork and group work, and has studied Jungian approaches to dreams, and recently completed training in Embodied Dream Imagery with Jungian analyst Robert Bosnak. “For me, the essence of Gestalt therapy is our creative interest and active engagement with what’s happening in the present moment.”

susan.jurkowski@gmail.com

Jeffrey Allison: Clinic Director

LCSW, Hunter School of Social Work, is a graduate of Gestalt Associates of Psychotherapy. He was drawn to Gestalt Psychotherapy because of its emphasis on healing and growth rather than pathology. “Gestalt therapy connects us to the dynamic process of becoming, and therefore to the beauty of life itself.”

jeffallison.nyc@gmail.com
http://www.jeffallisontherapy.com

Connie Newman: Assistant Director of Training

MA, MA, LCAT, LMHC, LP, NCC, New York University. Connie’s interest in Gestalt therapy evolved from a professional dance and dance education background, to movement-dance therapy training, to the integrated mind-body emphasis of Gestalt. “My current interests lie in the multi-utilizations of the therapeutic relationship to illustrate, engage and repair developmental wounds.

connienewmanlp@gmail.com
https://gestalttherapyinstitute.com

Johanna Barrett: 

LCSW, ACSW, New York University, has been in the practice of psychotherapy for 33 years and is a graduate of the Gestalt Center. She has had numerous courses in the treatment of individuals, groups, couples and family therapy. She was in psychoanalytic supervision with Dr. Richard Robertiello for 24 years. “Gestalt Therapy has always gone beyond looking at just the cognitive, linear perspectives of the person. It demands of the therapist an awareness of the body and how it manifests the psyche, which to me, is one of the greatest contributions to the field of psychotherapy.”

jfbchuck@aol.com

Alan Cohen: 

MSW, LCSW, LP, ACSW, BCD, Washington University. Alan’s interest in Gestalt therapy coincides with his 35 years of meditation practice. He studied with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi over the course of four years, before beginning his post graduate training in Gestalt therapy. “I see the two approaches as complementing and supporting each other in their focus on awareness, the present moment, and acceptance of what is, as the basis of moving into the next moment. I am particularly interested in the curative and healing value of one’s own presence.”

alancohenlcsw@gmail.com
www.gestalttherapyinstitute.com

Jordan Dann: 

MFA, LP, CIRT, Boston University, is a dynamic psychoanalyst, author, and speaker. Her training as a Gestalt therapist, Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, and Imago Relationship Therapist, as well as her many years coaching and directing actors; has fostered her desire to help people become more connected, self-aware, free, and expressive. As a former theatre professor she has taught at NYU, Stella Adler, Boston University, and Colorado Mountain College. As a program designer and experience architect she created the Story Swap program for the Aspen Institute, a program using storytelling and creative writing to build empathy and understanding between diverse populations. She is the author of "SOMATIC THERAPY for Healing Trauma" and the creator of the Relationship Transformation School. She is a nationally certified and NYS licensed psychoanalyst in private practice in New York City. “What I love about Gestalt practice is that it invites people to live an embodied life, in relationship, in the here-and-now.”

You can follow her on Instagram @jordandann
www.jordandann.com
jordan@jordandann.com

Jennifer Griesbach:

LCSW, New York University, is a graduate of Gestalt Associates for Psychotherapy. She went on to study Developmental Somatic Psychotherapy (DSP) and Child-Parent Somatic Psychotherapy at the Center for Somatic Studies with Ruella Frank, where she is part of the DSP teacher trainer program. She is also trained in EMDR and has a private practice in Manhattan. Jennifer has a special interest in working individually and in interpersonal gestalt groups with adults who were adopted as children. She is excited to share her love of gestalt theory and support the transformation of theory into practice in her teaching, and brings her background as a musician and meditator to the exploration of awareness and creativity in our lives.

jagriesbach@gmail.com
www.jennifergriesbach.com

Justin Laird:

PhD, LP, University of Texas at Austin, Baylor University, is a Certified Gestalt Therapist and is trained in Attachment-Focused EMDR through the Parnell Institute. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor with CUNY, at Brooklyn College and the School of Labor and Urban Studies. In teaching and training roles, he has facilitated conversations with small and large groups on self-compassion, burnout, vicarious trauma, mindfulness, cultural humility, implicit bias, micro-aggressions, and more. “I appreciate how Gestalt therapy opens the possibility of feeling and experiencing the moment more fully. Or as a wise mentor shared, “Think less, feel more”.

justingestalt@gmail.com
www.jmlaird.com

Jim Mulry: 

LCSW, LP, ACSW, Fordham University, includes his gestalt training with Laura Perls and his years of mindfulness meditation as central to his present therapy work. Besides working with adults and couples, Jim also is skilled at working with adolescents. “When I found Gestalt, I felt that I had discovered a whole new way of seeing and understanding people, and even more importantly, myself, and that continues to this day.”

JJMulry@aol.com

Todd Senzon: 

MA, LP, New York University, is a graduate of Gestalt Associates for Psychotherapy. Todd came to Gestalt Therapy through Harm Reduction drug counseling, specifically with homeless young adults. He brings his creativity as a visual artist and his presence as a yoga practitioner to his work with individuals, couples and groups. “In Gestalt Therapy practice I am most interested in the power of our co-created experience in the moment to promote self-discovery in the on-going process of becoming who we are.”

tsenzon@hotmail.com

Richard Shrobe: 

LCSW, LP, ACSW, Hunter School of Social Work, graduated from the Gestalt Center for Psychotherapy and Training and did additional Gestalt training for two years with Laura Perls. He has been practicing since 1976 and worked in the drug rehabilitation field before entering private practice. He has also been a practitioner and teacher of Zen meditation. He is Zen Master in the Kwam Um School of Zen, at the Chogye International Zen Center of New York, (www.chogyezencenter.org/teachers). “What is most important to me about Gestalt Therapy is the emphasis on person to person in the here and now.”

rshrobe@gmail.com

Patricia Tucker: 

LCSW, LP, ACSW, Columbia University, is a graduate of Gestalt Associates for Psychotherapy. In addition to her background in Gestalt Therapy, Patricia holds a certificate from the New York Society for Ericksonian Hypnotherapy and Psychotherapy. She is an Adjunct Professor, NYU School of Social Work. “What excites me about our work in Gestalt therapy is its focus on process. When we gain experiential awareness of how we do what we do, new choices emerge spontaneously. Our radical focus on process keeps our work alive and full of possibility.”

ptucker451@aol.com
www.thegroupproject.org

Allan Whiteman: 

LCSW, LP, ACSW, BCD, Smith College, began his training in Gestalt Therapy in 1972. “I am most interested in its potential to see awareness as a human presence, which heals by seeing the wholeness which is already intrinsic in each of us.” Allan has also done twenty-five years of Zen practice, ten years studying the Diamond Approach of A.H. Almaas, as well as long study in the therapeutic traditions of hypnotherapy with Stephen Gilligan and brief therapy. Most recently he began a hospice program in one of the New York State prisons.

allanwny@aol.com