In English

I am Sofia Jebbour, Certified Gestalt Therapy Practitioner (English-speaking).

You might be here because:

• You feel stuck, overwhelmed or lost
• You struggle with anxiety or overthinking
• You feel disconnected from yourself
• You repeat the same emotional or relationship patterns
• You want to understand yourself more deeply

I support adults who feel stressed and exhausted by painful, repetitive relational patterns, helping them to break free and find lasting relief, through Gestalt Therapy.

I offer individual online Gestalt therapy sessions in French and English for clients, expats, in France and worldwide as a supportive and relational space to explore what keeps repeating in your life, gently work with what brings suffering, and move toward greater clarity, freedom, self-trust, and inner safety.

Therapy Sessions

I welcome you to my therapy practice in person in La Roche-sur-Yon Vendée, France, or online through secure video sessions, in French and in English for expats, clients in France and worldwide.

When there is a significant time zone difference, I may exceptionally adjust online session times to better suit your needs.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me by phone, Whatsapp, or email. I'll be happy to assist you.

My Approach: Integrative Gestalt Therapy

Integrative Gestalt Therapy is a humanistic, existential and holistic psychotherapy, both gentle and deeply transformative. It offers a warm, supportive, and secure therapeutic space where you can reconnect with yourself, explore your inner world, and gradually restore emotional balance and self-trust.

This approach supports you in:

• deepening self-awareness
• understanding emotional and relational patterns
• reconnecting with your needs and values
• taking an active and responsible role in your life

Gestalt Therapy invites you to become more fully present to yourself and to your experience, supporting you in shaping your life with greater clarity, freedom, and responsibility.

A Holistic and Human-Centered Therapy

Integrative Gestalt Therapy considers the human being as a whole, addressing all dimensions of experience: body, emotions, thoughts, relationships, social environment/context, and spirituality.

More than a therapeutic method, it is a philosophy of life, a way of being with oneself and with others, oriented toward awareness, growth, responsibility, and meaningful change.

A Therapy Rooted in the Present Moment

Gestalt Therapy is firmly grounded in the here and now. It brings awareness to how past experiences that have not been fully integrated may still shape your present life through emotions, habitual reactions, or recurring relational patterns.

Through an empathic, engaged and relational dialogue, therapy supports awareness, integration, and lasting change.

The word Gestalt, meaning “to give form” in German, reflects our innate capacity to evolve and transform what no longer supports us.

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” — Lao Tseu

Reasons You May Seek Gestalt Therapy

At different moments in life, you may feel the need for a space of attentive listening and support to navigate what has become difficult, confusing, or painful. The decision to seek therapy can emerge for many different reasons, including:

• Lack of self-confidence, anxiety, stress or fears
• Conflictual and painful relationships
  (family, friendships, romantic or professional relationships)
• Existential crisis or a loss of meaning
• Life transitions, separation, trauma, or periods of grief
• Feelings of being stuck or difficulties moving forward
• Repetitive patterns that no longer serve you, or dependency / repeating the same relationship patterns
• Parental or professional burnout
• Work-related difficulties such as dissatisfaction, loss of meaning, workplace bullying or harassment

I welcome you with kindness, respect, and whitout judgment, offering a safe and supportive space to explore what you are experiencing, at your own pace.

My Training and Professional Background

I am a certified Gestalt Practitioner, trained at the École Humaniste de Gestalt (EHG) through a five-year professional program. Since 2015, I have been engaged in ongoing professional training, personal therapeutic work and regular clinical supervision, supporting a practice that is ethical, reflective, and continually evolving.

Before becoming a therapist, I completed an academic and professional path in the field of management, including:

• a Master of Science in Management (MSc) from EM Lyon Business School in 2010
• a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from London Business School in 2019

I worked for several years in international and multicultural environments, across different countries, within both multinational organizations and small to medium-sized companies.

This professional background allows me to deeply understand the challenges related to work and professional identity, including burnout, loss of meaning, relational tensions, and workplace suffering.

I practice within the ethical framework of the École Humaniste de Gestalt, which includes:

• strict confidentiality
• regular professional supervision
• ongoing training

This commitment supports a therapeutic posture grounded in attentive listening, humility, empathy, and respect, offering a secure and reliable space for therapeutic work.

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” — Marcel Proust

How Gestalt Therapy Sessions Work

Gestalt Therapy is open to all adults, with no age limit.

Sessions take place:

• in person at my practice in La Roche-sur-Yon, Vendée

• or online via secure video consultation

Sessions are available in English or in French, depending on the language in which you feel most comfortable expressing yourself.

The First Session

The first session is a time to meet and to begin creating a sense of trust and safety within the therapeutic relationship.
You are invited to share what brings you to therapy, the difficulties you are currently experiencing, and what feels important for you at this moment.

I will also introduce my therapeutic framework and the way I work, so that you can sense whether this approach feels right for you.
Together, we explore how the therapeutic process might unfold and decide how to continue.

Duration: 45 minutes

Ongoing Sessions

Therapy unfolds through continuity and regularity.
A weekly rhythm is generally recommended, as it supports the depth and coherence of the therapeutic process.

Over time, we explore your lived experience, personal history, and the patterns that may be repeating in your present life. Attention is given to what emerges in the here and now, in the relational space between us.

Each session offers a confidential, respectful, and supportive space, where whatever feels present for you can be brought and explored.
We move at your pace, respecting your process, your needs, and your inner rhythm.

Duration: 45 minutes
Frequency: once per week

Fees

Online sessions can be paid by bank transfer after the session. If it’s easier for you, I can also send a secure payment link instead of a bank transfer.

Any session cancelled or rescheduled less than 48 hours in advance remains due, as the time is reserved specifically for you.

Some health insurance providers may partially reimburse psychotherapy sessions. Please check directly with your insurer for details.

The Therapeutic Relationship

Gestalt Therapy is a relational and experiential approach, where the quality of the therapeutic relationship plays a central role.

Together, we co-create a therapeutic relationship grounded in presence, empathic dialogue, and embodied awareness. Within this relational space, what emerges between us becomes part of the therapeutic work, supporting awareness, contact, and meaningful change.

Benefits of Integrative Gestalt Therapy

• Develop greater emotional and inner stability
• Build a more stable and embodied sense of self-worth
• Transform the impact of past experiences in the present
• Care for your energy and clarify your priorities
• Express yourself with greater authenticity and clarity
• Develop more conscious and attuned ways of communicating
• Reconnect with meaning and alignment in your professional life
• Get to know yourself more deeply to live your relationships more fully
• Restore a deeper sense of meaning in your life

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant.” — Robert Louis Stevenson

My Values

My therapeutic work is grounded in values that are lived and embodied within the therapeutic relationship, rather than stated as principles to follow.

I offer a space where presence, respect, and authenticity support a relationship built on trust and safety. I am attentive to meeting you where you are, without judgment, and with a deep respect for your pace, your experience, and your uniqueness.

My commitment as a Gestalt therapist is to remain engaged, reflective, and ethically grounded, continually questioning my practice through supervision, ongoing training, and personal work. I approach therapy with humility, recognizing that each therapeutic process is co-created and unfolds in its own rhythm.

At the heart of my work are values that support a human, relational, and responsible approach to therapy:

• Presence and attentive listening – being fully available to what emerges, in words, emotions, and bodily experience
• Authenticity – meeting you as I am, and supporting you in being more fully yourself
• Empathy and kindness – offering a warm, non-judgmental space where all experiences are welcome
• Respect and confidentiality – honoring your boundaries, your story, and the privacy of our work
• Commitment and responsibility – supporting a reliable, ethical, and engaged therapeutic process
• Support and steadiness – offering consistent, grounded support so you do not have to face your struggles alone

These values create a therapeutic space where awareness, contact, and transformation can naturally unfold.

My Therapeutic approach

My therapeutic style is warm, supportive, and engaged, grounded in presence and respect for who you are and where you are in your life. I welcome you as you are, without judgment, and with attention to your rhythm and experience.

Through empathic dialogue and growing awareness, we gently explore what may feel blocked, confusing, or painful. By bringing attention to what is happening in the here and now, new possibilities can emerge in the way you relate to yourself and to others.

I offer a confidential, welcoming, supporting, and secure space, where you can feel safe to be yourself, to explore your inner world, and to bring light and clarity to what may currently feel unclear or difficult.

My Personal Journey

For many years, I followed what could be described as a conventional and successful path—prestigious studies and an international corporate career. Yet beneath this apparent stability, I felt increasingly disconnected, insecure, and empty inside.

At the age of 25, a life-threatening experience became a profound turning point. Alone and far from home, I was confronted with a deep inner knowing: something essential in my life needed to change.

This awakening was followed by a period marked by burnout, grief, relational difficulties, and a growing loss of meaning. Eventually, I chose to step away from everything that was familiar. I moved abroad for several years and began a deep journey of introspection, healing, and reconnection with myself.

Discovering Gestalt Therapy Changed My Life

In 2015, I discovered Gestalt Therapy through my own individual therapeutic process. This experience allowed me to reconnect with my emotions, develop greater emotional awareness, and bring meaning to my inner world.

The therapeutic relationship itself proved to be deeply supportive and reparative, offering a lived experience of safety, presence, and trust. Over time, it became an inner reference point—an internal compass guiding my choices and my way of being in the world.

This personal transformation naturally led me to train as a Gestalt Practitioner. Through this path, I cultivated greater inner stability, clarity, and self-trust, and gradually chose a life more aligned with meaning, authenticity, and responsibility.

Supporting You on Your Own Path

Today, I accompany people who wish to:

• understand themselves more deeply
• restore a sense of meaning in their lives
• live with greater serenity and presence
• regain confidence and inner stability

Seeking support is an act of courage. It is often the first step toward meaningful and lasting change.

If you feel ready to begin this journey, I would be honored to support you and walk alongside you, at your own pace, on your path of self-discovery and growth.

About Integrative Gestalt Therapy

A gentle and powerful humanistic psychotherapy

Integrative Gestalt Therapy is a humanistic and experiential psychotherapy, rooted in classical Gestalt Therapy as developed by Fritz Perls in the 1950s, and enriched by contemporary contributions from neuroscience and mindfulness-based approaches.

It focuses on how experience is lived in the present moment, rather than on searching for explanations or causes. The person is placed at the center of the therapeutic process, while always being understood in relationship with their environment, relational field, and life context.

Gestalt Therapy is an active and living approach, inviting awareness through attentive listening, emotional exploration, embodied experience, and experiential dialogue. What emerges in the here and now becomes meaningful material for the therapeutic work.

As a therapist, I hold an engaged yet non-directive posture, co-creating with you a secure, supportive, and relational therapeutic space, where awareness, contact, and transformation can unfold at your own pace.

Book an Appointment

Online booking is available for therapy sessions.

You may choose:

• a remote therapy session via online video consultation

• an in-person session at my practice in La Roche-Sur-Yon, Vendée

How Does a Gestalt Therapy Session Work?

And why does this unique therapeutic approach often lead to profound and lasting change?

In many forms of therapy, much of the work focuses on understanding the “why.”

“Why do I lack self-confidence?”

“Why can’t I say no?”

“Why do I keep attracting the same kind of people into my life?”

While understanding the reasons behind our patterns can be helpful, it can also sometimes lead us to stay stuck in endless analysis.

How do you experience this difficulty right now?

How does this pattern show up in your relationships, your body, your emotions, or your daily life?

This shift is powerful because it invites you to focus on the present moment — the here and now — where awareness and change become possible. Gestalt Therapy is a present-centred, experiential approach that supports greater awareness of how you relate to yourself, others, and the world around you.

Rather than staying only in the story of what happened, we explore how your past continues to shape your current experience and how you can transform that experience into something different, something more supportive for your life today.

Gestalt Therapy views human beings holistically.

Healing is not only about the mind.

It also involves paying attention to your physical sensations, emotions, thoughts, relationships, environment, and existential or spiritual dimension — the dimension of being.

Because this is an integrative and holistic approach, Gestalt Therapy aims to support you as a whole person and across different areas of your life. It takes into account all dimensions of human experience and can be relevant for a wide range of situations and life contexts.

For example, Gestalt principles can also be applied in professional settings through Gestalt coaching and organisational contexts.

That said, Gestalt Therapy is particularly well suited for:

• Individual therapy
• Couples therapy
• Group therapy

People may seek Gestalt Therapy support for:

• Anxiety and low mood
• Stress-related or psychosomatic difficulties
• Relationship challenges
• Low self-esteem or self-confidence
• Eating difficulties and addictive behaviours
• Burnout and professional exhaustion
• Grief, loss, and life transitions
• Separation, heartbreak, or relational difficulties

Beyond being a therapeutic approach, many people also experience Gestalt as an existential philosophy and a way of relating to themselves and to life.

The First Session

During the first session, the Gestalt therapist takes time to understand your request for support, your expectations, and what brings you to therapy.

This first meeting is also an opportunity to explore whether we feel we can work together.

In Gestalt Therapy, the therapeutic relationship matters. The therapist pays attention not only to your story, but also to the relational experience: whether trust, connection, empathy, and engagement can develop within the therapeutic space.

Together, we clarify the framework for working together, including:

• The frequency of sessions
• Fees and practical arrangements
• The therapeutic framework and boundaries

If we both feel comfortable moving forward within this framework, the therapeutic work can begin.

Anyone interested in Gestalt Therapy is welcomed without judgement.

You are invited to show up as you are — with your expectations, fears, doubts, vulnerabilities, strengths, and unanswered questions.

A therapist’s stance of empathy, presence, and non-judgement helps create the conditions for trust to emerge.

And trust makes it possible to gradually reveal more of yourself.

Sessions generally last between 45 and 50 minutes.

The overall duration of therapy varies depending on your needs, objectives, and personal circumstances.

For some people, therapy is short-term and focused on a specific issue. For others, it becomes a longer process of personal exploration and change.

When someone is experiencing a particularly complex or difficult period, sessions may sometimes be scheduled more frequently.

Regularity matters, as continuity often supports deeper therapeutic work.

When therapy comes to an end, we usually dedicate at least one session to bringing closure to the process and reflecting on the journey.

After therapy has ended, it is also possible to return for occasional sessions whenever needed.

Schedule your session online

 👉Do you have a question or would you like to connect before booking?

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me by phone, Whatsapp, or email. I'll be happy to assist you.

Contact details

✉️ contact@sofiajebbour.com

📞 +33 7 50 66 24 21

📍 Vita Sana center, 2nd floor of "Résidence Le Grand Pavois", 85000 La Roche-sur-Yon

Practical information

A large free visitor parking area is available directly to the left of the Le Grand Pavois residence, so you can arrive with peace of mind.

Upon arrival, simply follow these directions:
• At the intercom, look for “Vita Sana” in the alphabetical list and ring Or type # 11 # for the doors to open automatically
• The elevators are located on your right
• Go up to the 2nd floor
• Then take the corridor on your left.

The Vita Sana Center is clearly indicated by a sign, door number 11.

If needed, feel free to contact me — I will be happy to guide you.

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This page is the English version of my website. You can also read the French version here or access a short english version as well by clicking here.