Field-relational coaching for Gestalt beginners: the PAIR model

"Abstract: To date, a number of Gestalt coaching models have been developed that principally focus on activities occurring within a relatively formal coach/coachee interaction. So far, most of these tend to require the coach, and sometimes the coachee, to have extensive specialist training in Gestalt psychotherapy theory and organisational skills (see Denham-Vaughan and Chidiac, 2009, for further discussion). Our aim was to focus instead on the organisational field/ culture and existent relationships per se: to develop a coaching process that would leverage the quality of all interactions occurring in the situation and be easy for people without specialist Gestalt training to understand and use. We thus offer the PAIR coaching model as a process that can be rapidly delivered in a wide range of organisational settings where people lack pre- existing explicit Gestalt psychotherapy or organisational Gestalt knowledge or expertise. Key words: Gestalt, coaching, field, relational, process, presence."