Therapeutic Presence in Troubled Times with Peter Cole, LCSW

Friday, October 10 6:00-8:00 p.m. 422 Alhambra Blvd., Sacramento

In this presentation, Gestalt Therapist Peter Cole, LCSW will discuss his recent article I Am Here: A Gestalt Perspective on Navigating Through Troubled Times (co-written with Charlie Bowman and scheduled to appear in Gestalt Review, Spring 2026 ). He will explore the impact of the U.S.’s current authoritarian political climate on the practice of psychotherapy. He will discuss the Mass Induction of Trauma, a concept he introduces in this paper and will examine how therapists and clients can work together toward co-regulation and hopefulness in these trying times. Drawing on theory and practice, including field theory and relational gestalt therapy theory, Peter will outline ways to sustain therapeutic presence and healing intoday’s challenging sociopolitical atmosphere.

Peter served as a Clinical Instructor of Psychiatry with the UC Davis School of Medicine for 25 years. He has served on the faculty of the Wright Institute in Berkeley CA, Stanford University School of Medicine and The Psychotherapy Institute of Berkeley California. Peter is on the Editorial Board of Gestalt Review and on the Scientific Committee for Routledge Publisher’s Gestalt Therapy Book Series. He teaches internationally in the field of Gestalt Therapy. With his wife Daisy Reese he is the author of New Directions in Gestalt Group Therapy (Routledge, 2017) and the editor of The Relational Heart of Gestalt Therapy (Routledge, 2022).  He is the author of numerous articles and book chapters.  Peter is in private practice in Berkeley and Sacramento where he specializes in group therapy for therapists, clinical consultation and long-term individual therapy with mental health professionals. 

Peter lives in Berkeley. He and his wife Daisy have five children and nine grandchildren in their blended family.  In his spare time Peter enjoys writing songs and playing music.