IJSP Number 8, 2026

International Journal of Supervision in Psychotherapy, Number 8, 2026 Page | 28 In Austria, the training of psychotherapists has been legally regulated for over three decades and is characterized by a multi-stage structure combining general foundational training with method-specific psychotherapy training. Method-specific training in Gestalt Theoretical Psychotherapy typically extends over several years and deliberately integrates self-experience, early therapeutic practice, and theory-oriented instruction. In this method- specific training, we consciously focus on what is particularly required for future professional practice: we see this, on the one hand, in human qualities – the development of personal competence and a human therapeutic attitude – and, on the other hand, in reflected knowledge and practical therapeutic skills. Through the close combination of self- experience, early own therapeutic work, and practice-oriented theoretical instruction, we strive to create the best possible conditions for students to develop this therapeutic competence. In our view, the three pillars mentioned cannot be meaningfully taught individually and independently of one another, but only in a consistently interlocking form. In the training model discussed here, these elements are closely intertwined through a long-term training group in which trainees take turns assuming the positions of client and therapist. In this context, we are explicitly not referring to role-playing, in which students assume the roles of therapist and client – an approach that has proven effective in therapy training programs and can also be highly beneficial [17]. In the GTP setting, they are not playing a role but actually carry out therapeutic work with a client who is seeking to make headway on their current issues. A central component of this model is a specific form of live supervision, in which trainees practice therapeutic work within the training group in the presence of peers and teaching therapists. These conditions enable trainees to practice therapeutic work at an early stage of their professional development while receiving immediate support, supervision, and detailed feedback. While traditional supervision formats predominantly rely on retrospective accounts of therapeutic sessions, live supervision offers a distinct educational setting in which therapeutic processes can be observed, reflected upon, and shaped in real time. In this context, live supervision is often regarded as a particularly practice-oriented training element, as it enables direct access to the unfolding therapeutic interaction and allows supervisory interventions to be closely attuned to concrete clinical situations. 2.2 THE SPECIFIC PROCEDURE In addition to theoretical seminars, subject-specific seminars, self-experience, and internships, students begin their GTP training in a three-year training group, where they regularly bring their own issues to the group as clients and also conduct therapy sessions in a dyad in front of the group as therapists. Upon entering the second phase of training – typically after the second year in the training group – students start working with actual clients outside the training group, a process that is further s upported by “traditional” individual and group supervision. Live supervision is therefore not used in GTP training only once students are already working with their clients, but at an earlier stage, when they are learning and practicing practical therapeutic work. In this model, students have the opportunity to develop an understanding of the therapeutic task and practice therapeutic skills very early on through independent and live-supervised therapeutic work within the training group. This practice takes place among fellow students, in front of the entire group,