Abstract
Stransky once wrote that only when a man dies can his life acquire a beginning, middle and an end: up until then we are constantly unfinished, even the mid point cannot be located. So only the final word finds the middle word and this, in a way, becomes a verse–one’s death explains oneself. (McCann, 2006: 122)
I attended the memorial service for Chris on 11 November 2011 at the Royal College of Psychiatrists in London. I was honoured to have been asked jointly by Dr. Jan Birtle, consultant psychiatrist in psychotherapy in Birmingham, and my past colleagues at the psychotherapy service of Coventry and Warwickshire, to speak about Chris’ life. The memorial was well attended by a cross-section of friends, psychiatrists, psychotherapists, group analysts, as well as past trainees and students, and not least Anna, Chris’ widow. The memorial gave us a rare opportunity to pool our memories of Chris’ life and see how rich and diverse this had been, and how much he had touched and inspired the lives of others, both present and absent.
In my opening comments at the memorial I spoke about my arrival in London a couple of days earlier. I emerged from the underground station at Kings Cross and in front of me was a tall building shrouded in curtains, obviously being renovated, with a large company name of MACE (Chris’ surname) probably between 30 and 50 feet high. I wondered what Chris was saying to me/us from above or beyond. On reflection this could be symbolically equated with Chris as having a big name/persona, but the curtains protected his privacy, which he guarded firmly. Symbolically there was a strong and powerful building of Chris’ professional life, but few knew him as a person beyond the professional curtain. I was not very different in these matters but there were times when I got beyond the exterior. We were professional partners, a bit like brothers. However, like all brothers, at times we fought one another and generally resolved our differences, but united against external attacks. With respect to external attacks, it is important to stress the value of our whole psychotherapy team in which we continually strove to be seen as a force to be reckoned with. Chris could not be seen/valued as a separate entity within the field of local, national, international psychotherapy or other diverse fields he was involved with, without commenting on the influence of others. I believe that he knew this as much as I did, in accordance with his group analytic training. At the memorial meeting there was a collective sharing of just how private Chris was with differing views of him being in the background or the foreground, but we did ‘know him’, as someone who advertently/inadvertently used his great intellect; strategic and diplomatic know how; his cunning and at times mischievous powers of persuasion; determination and stubbornness; trust, empathy, generosity, patience, enthusiasm and encouragement to others. Chris, the person, was on view in all that I have highlighted so far. Yes! There was so much of Chris that was kept private but so what? Maybe him being so good at what he did and we saw was determined by what we did not see/know.
I am not sure how much I can expand in order to do justice to Chris’ legacy but I shared 15 to16 years working along side him on a full-time basis within a small psychotherapy team, alongside the larger group of mental health professionals from various disciplines within the county. In order to expand I would like to share some memories of particular moments/points which hopefully will give the reader a picture of Chris and those around him. I shall then move on to some recollections of my own relationship with Chris outside the professional confines.
Professional Side
As I said earlier, the development of the psychotherapy team approach was paramount in our work together. I joined the Warwickshire psychotherapy service two or three years after Chris came to lead the service in 1992. Throughout our developments until Chris’ death we came to be seen as a centrally key and integral part of the adult mental health community. This was built upon the clinical contribution to the treatment of complex psychological conditions through individual and group therapy, but it was also seen as a central component of training of psychiatrists, group analysts, individual psychotherapists and counsellors, art therapists to name but some. Structurally, the service had a central location in Warwick with two satellite locations in Leamington Spa and Stratford-upon-Avon. Throughout our years together there were very little personnel changes, inclusive of the valuable administrative staff, which evidenced the value of the service to the wider adult mental health community. Another important factor was that the various trainees, junior doctors, students, saw their experience of training with us as invaluable. Indeed, many trainees on completion of their training continued to see patients because of the sense of value and being supervised without financial remuneration. Many trainees who are now in established senior positions throughout the country passed through our doors. One last point is that over the past 18 to 20 years, thousands of patients have availed themselves of the service and there has been a great deal of success.
I decided to present this previous paragraph in order to give a brief picture of the psychotherapy service, as this was as much an extension of Chris as any of us. However, Chris provided the mould which he started (a matrix) and to which we all helped to shape. At times it was obvious how Chris led in political and management demands/developments, and at other times he was in the background. He was central in strategic and policy matters on a wider basis within the mental health community. He was involved in many other groups allied to mental health who were drawn to him for his expertise and his supervision, such as: counselling, cognitive therapy, neuroscience, psychosomatics, cognitive analytic therapy, mindfulness, psychodynamic thinking, spirituality, dissociative disorders, forensic psychotherapy, learning disabilities, to name a few. He was involved in many research projects, many of which he led, and at times he roped me/us into, at times without warning.
Of the many struggles we had in our psychotherapy department survival, one stands out. This was at the time when the psychotherapy service faced closure. The whole team was highly involved in this as were our fellow colleagues outside the department. Chris’ special ability as a leader and political power emerged fiercely as if the authorities were trying to close him down personally (we all felt something of this). This struggle went over a 12 to 18 month period. It even reached the Houses of Parliament via prominent members of Parliament. The Hospital Trusts group of nine consultant psychiatrists compiled a joint letter supporting the psychotherapy department, warning against closure with threatened action and the possible resignation of four of them. This, I believe, showed the high regard that Chris had been placed in by his peers. Unfortunately the bureaucratic governing bodies of the current Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Trust (not the psychiatrists) appear to not be honouring Chris’ legacy in that there is a resistance to replacing him, even though the service is continuing in some form.
On Group Analysis
Although we spent many years together I feel ill-equipped to say a great deal about Chris as a group analyst. He had his finger in so many pies, so to speak. It was my belief that this limited the time he could devote to conducting patient groups, even though there was evidence of his role as a group analyst within the teaching and management settings he was involved in. In his final years he conducted only one patient group. From our mutual dialogue and supervision groups, and elsewhere, it was clear how effective he was and the esteem to which his patients valued him. Even in the supervision group setting he was economic with what he said, but there were also times when he would get excited and that is when his warmth and intellectual understanding were combined. However, I cannot say that I understood him fully as a group analyst, as much of what he focused upon, highlighted, interpreted, was upon individual positions as compared to wider/symbolic group analytic principles. This is no criticism as I think that the many other interests he had were moving him down other and new roads. Saying that, I recall incidents and times when he had to deal with very demanding and difficult group sessions where he was able to challenge, contain and interpret the group’s current and overall position, and was open to the part that he played in such processes. In the larger picture Chris and I shared a deep and lasting belief in group analysis. In our learning years at the Institute of Group Analysis we were both lucky to have had Dr. Vivienne Cohen as our supervisor, although I trained a few years earlier. When we moved into our new premises in Warwick we named it: ‘The Pines’ in honour of Dr. Malcolm Pines. Before Chris had died the three senior full-time positions were filled by group analysts: Chris, Andy Espey, myself, along with a part time Jungian analyst, John Nicholas who also has an interest in groups.
Generous is a word that comes to many people’s lips when asked about Chris: of his time, thoughts, care, consideration and dare I say, love, for others. He was also curious and supporting of my (and others) developing ideas. In the months before he died I had been developing new ideas upon ‘therapeutic love’ and ‘heartfullness’, which brought a resonant twinkle to his eye. We began discussing this in connection with his work on ‘mindfulness’ of which he was reaching some heights. Sadly, this could go no further. Within the work environment my dearest memories are that when I struggled with my clinical and personal doubts he was there to help. As a pair our personalities and ways of working where like fire (me) and water (him). During these times he could pour water upon me to calm things down.
The Personal Side
As I was leading up to my retirement Chris was also thinking about retirement, when hopefully he would have had time to develop his many other interests. Until then we had not socialized a great deal but I knew I would keep contact with him and had hoped to get him back onto the golf course more often. In earlier years we had played more golf together. At these times, and in our social meetings, he relaxed more and showed a happy and humorous side. In the matter of golf he had a focused and determined approach. When I teased him about interpreting the balls resistance to go into the hole he glowered back at me and I knew I had to keep my mouth shut, but he did take it in good humour. We both had a love of music and were flautists. I also played the saxophone and he played a number of other instruments and we both sang. His passion was classical and opera, and mine were rock, jazz and country. We came together in our liking of Portuguese fado music. He showed his appreciation to his colleagues in many ways, one of which was the summer parties at his home which he and Anna provided. I think his last social outing was for an Irish/Portuguese musical evening at my home and even though he struggled, he was able to stay the course with us.
It is sad to think that he is no longer with us to avail himself of life beyond the rigorous professional demands that he and others had set. A great loss!
In preparing for the memorial service and this obituary I came upon a piece that Chris had written in his mindfulness book which I felt would be appropriate to end with.
Two elements are usually present in the fuller story. One is that Bahiya is about to die. He knows he is going to die. The Buddha sees he is about to die. There is no time to be lost. Every word, every breath counts. So not a syllable is wasted. And just after his liberation, Bahiya’s death comes anyway. The other element is preparation. Bahiya may be presented as somebody who is primed for the duration through his precarnate relationship with the Buddha (as in Burlingame’s own account). Or the narrator may stress Bahiya’s saintliness achieved through good works and purity of mind (e.g. Hart, 1988: 116–17). Sometimes Bahiya’s readiness is expressed in terms of having attained the 8th state of concentration, as if the Buddha assisted with the final ineffable nudge that would otherwise have little effect. (Mace, 2008: 136)