Setting the Scene for “Dis-Diseasing of Mental Health”

• Published in: Journal of systemic therapies 2017-03, Vol.36 (1), p.67-68
• Main Author: Anderson, Harlene
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Critical thinking; Goolishian, Harry; Mental disorders; Mental health
• ISSN: 1195-4396; 1930-6318
• DOI: 10.1521/jsyt.2017.36.1.67

Harry Goolishian had a Jesuit education. Though he was obviously a bright and challenging student, I think this education largely contributed to further developing his inquisitive, gentle, creative, provocative, and tireless nature and to his insatiable appetite as a critical reader of the classics and contemporary literature as well. He was never one to miss a good conversation and was often the initiator. “Dis-diseasing of Mental Health,” a talk given at a Galveston Symposium in 1991, is quintessential Harry. He was, according to those who knew him, a man ahead of his time and somewhat of a conversational genius. In 1988, the Houston Galveston Institute began a biennial symposium. The idea emerged in a conversation that Harry, Lynn Hoffman, and I were having about how we longed to have meaningful, generative conversations in small gatherings of critical thinkers and innovative practitioners rather than attend large conferences. Inspired by the international team meetings in the 1980s organized by the Irish team of Nollaig Byrne and Imelda McCarthy and others, we decided to invite 20 inspiring, respectfully irreverent colleagues to join us for a symposium. The first one was held in Galveston in 1988. It was more on the order of a “salon,” as it was an informal gathering with generative conversations over food and drinks. Since it was held in Galveston, the conversations extended to Harry’s dock and the hotel hot tubs. Each conversation led to the next in terms of membership and focus and was a combination of large group conversation (usually impossible) and conversations in smaller clusters. Surprisingly, over 90 people showed up, including teams from around the world. “Dis-diseasing of Mental Health” illustrates Harry’s significant contributions to the field, which were always ahead of his time.