Origin

Experiential psychotherapy originates in the humanistic-existential approach.
Therefore our work is inspired by the following great minds and practitioners.

Carl Rogers and Fritz Perls

Historically, the person-centred psychotherapy by Carl Rogers and the Gestalt therapy by Fritz Perls are the most important shapes of experiential therapy. Rogers and his colleagues described the therapeutic relationship under three aspects: empathy, genuineness and unconditional respect. Rogers put the human encounter in the centre of the therapeutic process and called his form of therapy “non-directive”. Both Perls and Rogers were associated with the humanistic-existential practice but they differed considerably in methods and therapy style.

Walter Kempler,

… Jesper Juul, Mogens Lund and Lis Keiser founded the Kempler Institute of Scandinavia in 1979. Kempler had been working closely to Fritz Perls’ before he began developing his own therapy for families. During the course of his work he was gradually withdrawing from Gestalt therapy. Basic elements of his experiential family therapy are the orientation in the ‘Here and Now’, authenticity and inclusion of the therapist in the therapeutic process.

Jesper Juul

… was head of the Kempler Institute for 25 years and, in collaboration with his colleagues, continually developed therapeutic work with families. Today, one of his most important issues is equal dignity in relationships in therapy and education. Juul is a practitioner throughout. During more than 30 years of practical work with families he has experienced many trends and fashions. He mindfully observes changes in society and their impacts on families, on children and on adolescents. From these observation he continually learns and accordingly adapts his therapeutic work to the changing circumstances.

Jesper Juul’s endeavour is to encourage and inspire parents in their live with children. In order to help his vision to become reality, in 2004 Juul founded familylab international and has established his organisation in many countries around the world.

Irvin David Yalom

… is one of the most recognised psychotherapists worldwide. His main work is called ‘Existential Psychotherapy’. Yalom writes: ‘ To an existential therapist, when “technique” is made paramount, everything is lost because the very essence of the authentic relationship is that one does not manipulate but turns toward another with one’s whole being.’ (Existential Psychotherapy, Basis Books, first edition 1980, p. 409f)