Relational Child, Relational Brain is Volume II in the Evolution of Gestalt Series. It continues the development of the paradigm shift that places human development in a field that is deeply complex and fundamentally one of interconnection, taking us away from the limiting view of us as separate individuals.

The book builds on the foundations of contemporary views of relational neurodevelopment and the profound influence of relationship on brain growth. It shows how, particularly in the first two years of life, but continuing across the whole of childhood and adolescence into early adulthood the relational field is the context of child development. Then the focus broadens out to examine the intersubjective influence of community, culture and social and physical support. Backed by neurobiological and related research, it offers many examples of relational Gestalt practice with children, adolescents and their families, with stories of loss, trauma, isolation and other adversities.

Not just an invaluable resource for child and adolescent therapists, Relational Child, Relational Brain goes beyond the Esalen Study Conference from which it emerged and is a further invitation and challenge to apply relational Gestalt practice as a coherent and effective way forward in the troubled world of today.

Contributing authors include (in chapter order) Gordon Wheeler, Robert G. Lee, Daniel Siegel, Neil Harris, Anna-Maria Nor\én, Bronagh Starrs, Mark McConville, Denise Tervo, Marlene Blumenthal, Peter Mortola, Howard Hinton, Stephen Grant, Jon Blend, and Violet Oaklander.

Robert G. Lee, Ph.D., is the co-editor of The Voice of Shame (Jossey-Bass, 1996) and editor of The Values of Connection as well as principal author of The Secret Langauge of Intimacy (GestaltPress/The Analytic Press). He has worked with couples for thirty plus years, conducted groundbreaking couple research, and trained and presented internationally. He dances, swims, lives, and practices psychotherapy in Boston.