During our co-editing journey I also
learnt that John lived in Pakistan as a child; that as a teenager he loved jazz music, which my dad did as well. We both work in mental health although with different populations. I found John’s experience, denoted by his age, reassuring and comforting to know that, although we had a map, it did not necessarily mean we would not encounter obstacles, nor did that mean the territory was framed by the map (Bateson, 1972). John: I soon discovered in the editing collaboration that you are much more disciplined than me; you created boundaries and structures which enabled our contributors to direct their creativity and you helped get the best out of them by what Minuchin called “kicking and stroking” (though the ‘kicking’ was through firmness not threat). My approach over the years has sometimes been a bit laissez faire, a kind of hippyish, “yeah whatever….good to have it; OK if we don’t”. You also commissioned some
fascinating stuff from writers and practitioners largely unknown to me. For example, I learned about “liberation psychology”, a culturally based concept and movement from Black Experience I had never encountered before (Derek Nasseri and Hendrix Hammond) except tangentially from the work of Frantz Fanon and some of the Latin American writers and their notions of “liberation theology”. I learned from Godwin and your East African experience many things from a part of the world that I have neither been to before nor know much about. I also liked the way we together helped John Cavanagh fi nd a clearer ‘inner voice’ about his identifi cation with characteristics of his late grandfather. Well, I hope we did
and this isn’t just a piece of pseudo self- congratulation. Joanne: We did. We commissioned many more articles than have been included in this edition. We were so keen to expand and share the richness of joining in all of its manifestations. Part of our joining with the authors was a part of our journey and our invitation to write. Those authors for whom obstacles meant they could not meet the deadlines for this edition we hold in mind because our joining and endings (disjoining) are equally signifi cant. My colleague Godwin, a doctor who I worked with in Tanzania, was not able to co-author our article but the experiences we shared and talked about infl uenced conversations I later had with John. The articles in this issue explore
different aspects of joining, conjoining, belonging both in and outside of therapeutic relationships with others. Time and space is a theme that is becoming more important to me as I delve deeper into my doctoral studies. Relationships with lost family members (John Cavanagh), children and adolescents who have suffered past abuse (Michelle Newman Brown), unity between therapist and patient against the organisational contexts (David Steare), coming together in a training context (Vicky Bristow-Smith, Simone Doffoh, Melissa Nicholas and Ezster Szabo), greeting and engaging with clients (Gill Wyse) and understanding the context when working with asylum seekers (Matthew Hodes) are all aspects of joining and conjoining covered in this special issue. John: Yes, that’s so true. Time and space are the unrecognised life agents in both the healing of therapy and the tragedy of loss and human destructiveness. The
invisible hand of abuse in childhood, well any age, can slowly strangle the psyche life-blood of belonging and hope, unless it is understood through a compassionate relationship that accepts, listens and suspends a rush to judgement. I think you have put your finger exactly on an important element – unity between patient and therapist. Jim Wilson, who writes here, is a masterful ace at creating such a unifying bond in his work. Henry Cockburn, whose journey through schizophrenia has been movingly written by him and his family in “Henry’s Demons”, is now an established artist and mentors others who are struggling with mental illness, as he was. This “expert by experience” route he has travelled down helps him form a powerful working alliance of unity with his patients because he “gets it”, not via a textbook but firsthand. This it seems to me to be at the heart of ‘joining and conjoining’ Finally, Melanie Shepherd and I have a
lengthy conversation about growing old and the stuff physically, emotionally and relationally it throws up for everyone… “Will you still need me Will you still feed me When I’m 64” Joanne and John: We hope that you enjoy reading this issue and it moves you in similar ways that it has moved both of us in coming together to bring this issue to life.
References Bateson, G. (1972) Steps to an Ecology of Mind: Collected Essays in Anthropology, Psychiatry, Evolution, and Epistemology. Chicago and London: University Of Chicago Press. Burnham, J. (2012) Developments in social GRRRAAAACCEEESSS: Visible- invisible and voiced - unvoiced. In I-B. Krause, (ed.) Culture and Refl exivity in Systemic Psychotherapy: Mutual Perspectives. London: Karnac.
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Context 169, June 2020
Editorial
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