From a gestalt perspective a well-lived life is grounded in a person's awareness of how they live their life and conduct their relationships, in the present, within their life space. From this perspective, the Gestalt approach seeks to promote awareness, support creative choice, encourage responsibility and facilitate connectedness in a person's efforts to realise a meaningful and fulfilling life.

     The Gestalt practitioner pursues a relationship with a client that is respectful and attuned to the immediacy of what emerges between them. The focus is on describing and understanding the unique experience of clients rather than interpreting and generalising about their experience. The Gestalt practitioner also offers a delicate balance of support and challenge in addressing the hopes and concerns of clients. Interventions involving both the Gestalt practitioner and the client explore different and more fulfilling ways for clients to be in their life space.

     The Gestalt approach is grounded in the ideas of phenomenology (awareness and subjectivity), field theory (context), dialogic existentialism (relationship), contact (process), holism (connectedness), present centredness (here and now) and creative adjustment (experiment). Developing these elements of the theory and translating them into effective practice are the major objectives of GTA courses.