Nataliia Umanska

Professional activity:

Visiting trainer and supervisor at the Kyiv Institute of Gestalt and Psychodrama

Trainee trainer of the level one programmes

Author and trainer of a level one programme, of specialisations and of volunteer projects

Member of the Association of Gestalt Trainers of Ukraine (AGTU)

Member of the Ukrainian Association of Specialists in Overcoming the Consequences of Traumatic Events

Author of more than fifty themed master classes in gestalt therapy and art therapy

In private practice from 2009 to the present

Nataliia about herself:

I like teaching.

Teaching so that a person really learns, so that knowledge becomes experience and experience becomes craft. I share what works, help build skills and strengthen professional competence.

I like knowing.

For me, knowing is not about mechanical memorising. It is about living something through, letting it pass through you, understanding the sense and the mechanics of a process. About the inner discovery that moves a person.

I like doing things together.

I believe in the power of partnership and joint action. I believe that good results are born in interaction.

That is why I am a gestalt therapist for whom the alliance with the client is the foundation of the work.

That is why I am a supervisor who, together with a psychologist, polishes their professionalism and supports the growth of their own style and resilience.

That is why I work with KIGiP — an institute that has been forming a professional community of gestalt therapists for decades. The institute’s values and its orientation towards deep, conscious, high-quality training are close to me.

And that is why I am in a team of trainers who develop a conscious attitude to work in psychologists, and to life in clients.

I have been counselling individually for many years, and every meeting still brings curiosity, inspiration and a sense of meaning. Dozens of groups run — and each time it is a new living process, a new dynamic, a new excitement. Hundreds of hours of supervision — and each time I see a professional taking shape and growing stronger.

I work with a whole view of the person, with respect for their boundaries, values and pace. My work brings together the emotional, bodily and intellectual dimensions, and supports the development of awareness, critical thinking and the ability to notice oneself.

I like what I do, and I have been doing it for a long time — since 2008, developing a psychological centre, and since 2009 training gestalt therapists who want to work consciously and safely.

To follow my professional calling I look for «my» people — those whose views, values and way of working resonate with mine. Perhaps we are going the same way.

Higher education:

Kharkiv National University of Internal Affairs, Master’s degree in Psychology, professional qualification «Practical psychologist, lecturer in higher education». Diploma no. M19 064078

Professional training:

2005–2009 — levels one and two of gestalt therapy training, Moscow Institute of Gestalt and Psychodrama. Certificate no. 8878, professional qualification of gestalt therapist / gestalt consultant

2009–2011 — training in supervision and group leadership with Jean-Marie Robine, in the programme for gestalt trainers of the French Institute of Gestalt Therapy (IFGT).

2011–2013 — supervision project of the French Institute of Gestalt Therapy.

Since 2013 — accredited therapist and supervisor of the French Institute of Gestalt Therapy (IFGT)

2014–2017 — continuing education in gestalt and psychodrama at level three of the Kharkiv Institute of Gestalt and Psychodrama.

2010–2021 — training in supervision and group leadership in the level four programme of the Moscow Institute of Gestalt and Psychodrama.

2010 — trainer of level one. Certificate no. 5011

2019 — trainer of level two gestalt therapy programmes, supervisor

Specialised programmes:

2009–2013 — four-year programme in work with trauma at the Moscow Institute of Family Systemic Therapy; trainer Mariia Yehorova. Trauma therapist

2009 — three-day supervision seminar «Presence — Awareness», Anne Chrétien, senior trainer of the French Institute of Gestalt Therapy (IFGT)

2009–2010 — «The art of the psychotherapist» after the programme of James Bugental, the existential and humanistic direction in psychology. Trainer Mykhailo Dubynskyi, certifying trainer of MIGIP

2010–2011 — training in work with psychopathology in gestalt, in the programme of Serge Ginger’s French School of Gestalt (EFG); trainer Manon Van Woenzel

2014–2015 — programme of the German Association of Psychotrauma Therapy. EMDR therapist, psychotrauma therapist.

2017–2018 — online course in art therapy, Olha Harkavets Institute of Practical Psychology

2018–2019 — programme «Gestalt therapy in work with clinical disorders»; trainer Oleksandr Yeremeiev, Kyrgyzstan

2019 — continuing education seminar «Working with existential problems and questions connected with the attitude to death in psychotherapy and counselling by the method of Symboldrama». Certificate no. 16649

2019–2020 — «Working with the phenomena of the body and with the symptom in gestalt therapy»; trainer Svitlana Hushchyna

2019–2021 — programme «The gestalt approach in work with couples» of the Italian Gestalt Institute (Istituto di Gestalt HCC Italy) under Margherita Spagnuolo Lobb; «Gestalt therapy in work with parent–child relationships», trainer Nataliia Kedrova

2021 — lecture course «Independence and interdependence. From self-sufficiency to mutual understanding», Ximo Tarrega Soler, trainer of the educational programmes of the French Institute of Gestalt Therapy (IFGT)

2021 — online course in the neurobiology of psychotherapy; teachers Prof. Louis Cozolino, Prof. David Linden, Prof. Matteo Feurra, Prof. Vasily Kliucharev, Asya Kazantseva

2023–2024 — continuing education in clinical practice with Liv Vadum, clinical gestalt therapist and supervisor of EAGT and MNGF. KIGiP

2024 — «Do not be afraid, I am holding you: the phenomenon of pain, complex trauma, self-support, helplessness and obsession». A series of four webinars by Peter Philippson. KGU

2025 — international project by Ruella Frank: «The living body: a vital support for navigating a fragmented world». KGU. Certificate no. 265047122B46