My colleague and friend, Dr. Roy Barsness will be presenting his “Last Lecture” @ The Seattle School, this evening. Roy is retiring from his core faculty role at the school where he has led, created, taught, researched, and offered himself in relationship for almost two decades. He leaves a courageous legacy of encounter, spaciousness for self and other, a love for Martin Buber, a dare to move toward the very thing that is in our midst now, a lifetime of integrating theology with psychology, and a profound hope that love endures.
While Roy is retiring from his counselling and psychology teaching duties at The Seattle School his private practice, supervision & consultation, writing, speaking, and clinical training continue. His most recent book, Core Competencies of Relational Psychoanalysis: A Guide to Practice, Study and Research, continues to serve readers and engender vital conversation regarding relational psychoanalysis. Its a great read, I highly commend it to you. And I’m excited to see where takes his post-graduate, relationally focused psychodynamic trainings.
On a personal level, I am deeply indebted to this beautiful human being, and on multiple levels. I am forever grateful for the generous way he hired me – as he was the academic dean when I joined The Seattle School – and then took me under his wing. He made space to team-teach classes with me, offering environments to create together. He helped me fall in love with the process of teaching, while wooing me to love and be changed by my students… its all about that squishy core competency of love!
Roy modeled for me not only the life of an educator and scholar (and the would have been more than enough), but Roy let me in close enough to grow as a human, as a parent, and as friend. Sometimes we wrestled together, yet we always found a way back to each other. My heart is full of gratitude when I think of Dr. Barsness. I am saddened that I will no longer see him at faculty meetings, or be able to plop down in a chair in his office and just talk. My life is richer for having intersected with his. I so happy for him.
Blessings as you enter your next chapter Roy. Much love. And seriously… thank you.
Peace, dwight
