Join us for British Gestalt Journal's Autumn 2026 Seminar Day, with 5.5 hours' CPD available.
Whatever makes us different – whether we are neurodivergent or neurotypical, cis or trans, our cultural backgrounds or individual experiences – our lives are shaped by stories. These stories can oppress and invalidate, but they can also liberate and forge connections. What stories have we been told, what stories do we live by, and what stories can we tell with our clients?
Participants will be invited to explore the stories that make up our lives, and that can limit or expand our imaginations and sensitivities. The first half of the day will focus on exploring normative expectations, the stories we tell about therapy, and their impact on minoritised clients and therapists, as well as the broader impacts on all of us. The second half will take some of these ideas further, with opportunities to experiment and play with different ways of telling, reclaiming, and reimagining those stories.
Sonny Hallett is a person-centred counsellor, supervisor, and trainer based in Edinburgh. They are trans, mixed race, and autistic, and work predominantly with clients and supervisees who are neurodivergent, queer, or have other intersecting and minoritised experiences. They have worked on research relating to neurodivergence and communication, and write about person-centred therapy and minority experiences. They are interested in the ways normative expectations around communication, emotions, interests, distress, etc, can impact our lives and our relationships, especially for people who are different. They are particularly interested in these dynamics in therapy, and how therapeutic relationships and therapy training can both help challenge the dominance of these norms, and cause harm through reinforcing them. Their supervision practice is particularly focused around supporting minoritised therapy trainees, as well as therapists coming to understand their neurodivergence, disability, or queerness. Part of their practice takes place outdoors, and they also think and write quite a bit about movement, nature, and ways to reconnect with ourselves, the world around us, and each other.