ABOUT ME—A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

The two consuming interests of my life are music, especially opera, and the psychology of human behaviour and change. I saw my first opera when I was nine years old and have been a fan ever since. I started reading about psychology shortly after high school. The first book I read was Eric Berne’s "The Mind in Action". After that, I read whatever I could get my hands on. I especially remember Wendell Johnson’s "People in Quandaries" and Carl Rogers’s "Client-centered Therapy". I became a great fan of Carl Rogers and read all of his books as they came out.

In the late 1950’s, I was married and in graduate school in Los Angeles studying music history. With our first child on the way, however, it became necessary for me to generate income, so I became a school teacher—almost overnight. While taking the courses necessary to acquire my teaching certificate, I thought I might become a school counsellor, and, during my early years of teaching, I took night school courses with that in mind.

In 1960, acting on a dream, my wife, our two children, and I moved to British Columbia. I was already, by this time, questioning many aspects of the school system, and reading books like A.S. Neill’s "Summerhill" and Rogers’s "On Becoming a Person" only added to my dissatisfaction with teaching. Meanwhile, our third child, another son, was born in 1962. It was, of course, necessary to continue teaching in order to support my family, but I was actively looking for an alternative. You will find a couple of papers about my school experiences on this website.

In 1967, I was offered a job at an “alternative” school in Vancouver. That at least made the break from public school teaching. After a year, a splinter group and I started the Saturna Island Free School, based on Summerhill principles. These were tempestuous and exciting years. They were also the years of writers on youth and education like Paul Goodman, Edgar Z. Friedenburg, and John Holt. Because I was frequently called upon to defend the school’s philosophy in writing and in public speaking, I had to hone and refine my thinking about education and human development. And on the personal side, I was becoming aware of and experiencing my own sexuality.

The school survived for three years but my marriage did not. We were divorced in 1970 and I moved back to the mainland to look for work of some sort. I tried substitute teaching, but after only 12 days I realized that school and I were not a good match. Fortunately, around this time, I became involved with Vancouver Opera’s Opera-in-the-Schools program and for almost a decade, I wrote the program, translated the opera excerpts to be performed, and acted as narrator in the school performances.

Throughout all this, I maintained my interest in psychotherapy and continued to read widely. This was the time when Transactional Analysis and Gestalt Therapy were emerging. I knew a few therapists and other people interested in psychotherapy, and we had many thoughtful and thought-provoking discussions. Finally, around 1980, I enrolled in a training program with the Vancouver Institute of Transactional Analysis and began training in earnest to be a therapist. For the next couple of years, I worked as co-therapist in individual and group therapy and had a small supervised practice of my own.

In 1984, I went to spend the summer on Hornby Island and ended up staying for 11 years. While there, I maintained a small counselling practice and also worked as artistic director and general manager of the Hornby Festival, an annual summer-time performing arts festival.

In 1996, I returned to Vancouver, accepting the position of General Manager with the Pacific Baroque Orchestra. That left little time for counselling. However, I took a two-year leave of absence in order to complete a Master’s Degree in Counselling Psychology through a distance learning program at Prescott College in Arizona. I then started counselling again with the small number of clients that time would allow for. I also began as a volunteer at the Vancouver Crisis Centre, joining the part time staff after two years. In my practice, I have worked with a number of gay men and also lead a gay men's group.

I retired from my work with the Pacific Baroque Orchestra in August of 2007. I then took a year to complete a Master of Music degree that I had started some years ago at UBC. That done, I am continuing to work part time at the Vancouver Crisis Centre. There, I am involved in phone room volunteer support and office assistance. I am once again turning my full attention to counselling, therapy, and to human growth and development.

On some of the following pages you'll find some poetry by my therapist Ann Ware and some of my own writing on various subjects. I'm always happy to hear your reactions.