Jim Simkin

Who was Jim Simkin?

James Solomon Jim Simkin was an early seminal figure in the history of Gestalt Therapy.

Simkin received his doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the University of Michigan, and practiced in New Jersey. He also was Chief Psychologist at a large VA hospital. Like most psychotherapists of his generation he was trained analytically. After working in therapy with Fritz Perls in the early 1950s, Simkin became enamored of the Gestalt approach, training and then doing co-therapy with Fritz. Later, he moved with his family to Southern California and started a therapy practice in Beverly Hills. He invited Perls to join him, but the sharing of an office was short-lived—Perls' volatility and Simkin's hyper-orderly style didn't mix too well vis a vis sharing an office. Perls discovered the Esalen Institute and began doing gestalt workshops and trainings there. Perls and Simkin joined in leading training groups in gestalt therapy for professionals at the institute. Later, when a 5-acre parcel on the coast just North of Esalen became available, Simkin built a striking home on the property and started his own residential training institute there in 1969..