{"id":225,"date":"2017-06-13T16:34:01","date_gmt":"2017-06-13T20:34:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/?p=225"},"modified":"2017-06-13T16:34:01","modified_gmt":"2017-06-13T20:34:01","slug":"leaving-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/?p=225","title":{"rendered":"Leaving 6"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re closing in on a relationship of some thirty years. In those three decades, Rick has touched just about every aspect of my life \u2014 personal and<\/em> professional. Our relationship has seen us both weather the trials of institutional employment, skating painfully close to the downsizing blade \u2014 remembered cryptically as \u2018the day they called a Code Fuchsia\u2019. In the days of doubt and disorganization that followed, Rick Graff and Associates was hatched \u2014 at the time numbering Rick Graff and one associate \u2014 me.<\/p>\n

Obviously things have changed greatly since 1991. Tenants, residential and<\/em> professional have come and gone \u2014 or stayed, as some of the faces in the room bear witness. Five years in saw the need to expand three offices to six. And ultimately, making the leap across the driveway \u2014 and some very stubborn, concrete barrier blocks \u2014 to add 157 to the \u2018association\u2019. <\/p>\n

But the constant has been Rick. His therapeutic interests and style, unconventional by those of Ontario\u2019s somewhat rigid and mechanistic psychological community, have remained steadfast \u2014 and served to inform and shape my own approach for the last three decades. The opportunity to explore Gestalt, men\u2019s psychology, Human Potential, meditation, and body work, largely thru\u2019 the unpredictable and fluid paths of extended residential retreats \u2014 legacies from Rick\u2019s time in California and Florida \u2014 became figural, annual rites that have served to balance and ground ever since. This stodgy, Ontario-educated behaviourist was gently invited \u2018out of his head\u2019 and into the lower centres of heart and belly, moving from content to process. His mentor became mine \u2014 and I\u2019m all the better for it. <\/p>\n

Road trips to the psychological edge, geographically and<\/em> experientially, were chances to share and explore \u2014 the most unusual of \u2018business meetings\u2019 and a far cry from the dry routine of the institutional practices where we\u2019d met. South Beach, the mountains above Mendocino, Big Sur, and regular pilgrimages to the \u2018heart land\u2019 of Kansas, improbable venues for \u2018the education of David\u2019, supplemented and, truth be told, supplanted the stuffy tedium of \u2018team meetings\u2019 on W2S; personal growth in place of CQI \u2014 \u2018continuous quality improvement\u2019.<\/p>\n

Our shared teacher and go-to guru, John Heider, would invite us to \u2018speak our truth \u2014 or as much of it as we could comfortably share\u2019 \u2014 and then open the group floor. Co-participants could be counted on to be an eclectic mix of seasoned \u2018vets\u2019 from hippy dentists to postal clerks; \u2018newbies\u2019 with the terrified, deer-in-the-headlights look that I\u2019m sure described me in those early days; and all stripes in between. Many of whom would become lifelong friends \u2014 all on a shared journey. John\u2019s \u2018Church of the Seven C\u2019s\u2019 and his Sunday morning \u2018homily\u2019 would indelibly connect Taoist wisdom to that of it\u2019s much younger cousin. Beyond all was the privilege of watching Rick \u2018do his work\u2019, as he stepped out of the professional self and willingly enter the ambiguous world of his own struggles \u2014 a model that more than once has set me back on a path from which I\u2019d wandered. <\/p>\n

Testament to the substance that must have formed the core of RGA is it\u2019s 25 year presence. In a profession that sees practices and practitioners come and go, the psychological equivalent of \u2018two guys pumping gas\u2019 has endured, attracting, absent any initiative or agenda, a broad-based, loyal, and sizeable cast \u2014 without a hint of hubris, the \u2018bar to be at\u2019 for private practice treatment in Stratford. <\/p>\n

Philip Seymour Hoffman, in \u2018A Late Quartet\u2019, refers to the subtle relationship between first and second violin \u2014 exploring the dynamics and dialogue that flow, unheard, behind and below the music itself. First chair typically plays the defining melody, the uppermost \u2018line\u2019 in the score; and is the last musician to take the stage before a performance. Second violin adds colour, texture, transitions \u2014 supporting harmonically and rhythmically. Without both \u2014 there\u2019s no quartet. <\/p>\n

Such is the relationship that has defined and sustained this partnership, this friendship of a quarter century. It\u2019s been quite the trip!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re closing in on a relationship of some thirty years. In those three decades, Rick has touched just about every aspect of my life \u2014 personal and professional. Our relationship has seen us both weather the trials of institutional employment, skating painfully close to the downsizing blade \u2014 remembered cryptically as \u2018the day they called […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=225"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":226,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225\/revisions\/226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}