Our History
Gignesthai | Hellenic Association for Existential Psychology
More than 20 years of experience in existential education and practice
‘Gignesthai’, the Hellenic Society of Existential Psychology, was founded in 2004 by a small group of four colleagues and friends — Evi Dalla, Eugenia Georganta, Katerina Zymni-Georgalou, and Alexis Charisiadis — sharing common interests and a commitment to the existential approach. The society was established to study and apply the existential approach in psychotherapy and counseling, emerging from the conviction that the fundamental questions posed by existentialism are crucial and defining in everyone’s life.
2004
Our First Workshop
The first Workshop on Existential Thought began in Kifissia. Over the course of more than 15 years, and through many transformations, the workshop functioned as a place of encounter and openness, offering a meaningful space for the expression of existential thought.
2005
The First Experiential Workshop
The first experiential workshop is organized in Kandili, Evia. A small group of pioneers inaugurates a tradition that has since taken place every year. Each group is invited to share and work through existential themes in a deeply experiential way.
2008
The First Training Workshop
In 2008, Gignesthai launched for the first time its comprehensive four-year training program in Existential Psychotherapy & Counseling. The aim of the program is to provide students with the theoretical foundations of the Existential approach.
2009
The First Edition
The first book by Mick Cooper on existential psychotherapies is published in our country. This book is the first in a series of existentially oriented titles translated into Greek, and he visited Athens for its inaugural official presentation.
2010
Existential Journeys
This marked the beginning of contact and acquaintance with nearly all the significant existential therapists of the British school, such as Ernesto Spinelli and Emmy van Deurzen. Many of them, along with representatives of the humanistic school, like Kirk Schneider, were hosted in Athens on the occasion of the publication of their books.
2013-2014
The First Conferences
Two consecutive conferences on the existential approach were held in Karpathos and Athens in collaboration with the Swedish Society for Existential Psychotherapy. In the same year, Emmy van Deurzen and Digby Tantam visited Athens as guests of Gignesthai.
2023
World Congress
For the first time as Gignesthai, we had the opportunity and the pleasure to host such a major and important event for our small country, where over 600 participants from 48 different corners of the world came together to form a unique human mosaic.
2024
20 Years of Presence
Through a special day dedicated to Gignesthai, which connects and inspires us, we celebrated 20 years of companionship, support, and ongoing deepening in a moving gathering, renewing our shared love, care, and commitment to the existential approach.