A D P C A

The Association for the Development of the Person Centered Approach.

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Applying for the Job of Editor

I have grown this past year. Through the Person-Centered e-mail network I have been able to explore my relationship with some of the ideas and some of the people who make up the Person-Centered Community. And my experience in Warm Springs allowed me to seriously question whether I want to be a part of that community, even though I find it difficult at times. I have decided that I do.

I have also wrestled with this: Do I want to apply to be the editor of Renaissance, when Jody DeRidder steps down after the next annual meeting? My answer is - Yes.

I am afraid to pursue this responsibility, for a variety of reasons, but I will grow from going forward while feeling those fears. If I have an "issue" that cuts to my core, it is this: I am afraid to really try to do some task, and then fail. I probably have a lower number of fears than most people, especially about personal safety, security, death, and so forth, but failing at something that I really want to do scares me deeply. Come to think of it, this issue was just below my "presenting problem" over a decade ago (when I could not write a "to-do list" and then execute it). How slowly I change.

A couple of months ago I spoke with Ken Newton about his attitude toward editing Renaissance. Ken performed those editing duties for about seven years. He likes an editor to have a point of view. While reserving the right to change my mind, let me put forth some of my of views.

For example, while I am relatively clear on what client-centered therapy is, I do not know what the person-centered approach is. Some descriptions that I have seen recently resonate much more than others. I like many of the ways that ADPCA conducts itself, and I am in awe of the processes unleashed in Warm Springs. If this is the person-centered approach, then despite my confusion and doubts, I am in favor of much of it.

I appreciate high levels of disclosure, and on a good day am inclined to disclose much about myself. I enjoy being with another when they choose to make significant disclosures. I hope that I balance this with a willingness to accept people who choose to keep themselves unknown to me. In therapy I have sought to know my therapist, and in my limited experience as a therapist I have sought to reveal almost all that any client wanted to know about me.

I can not imagine a situation where I would want sexual contact with either a client or a therapist, but aside from that I have few boundaries that are not negotiable.

I seem to blow in the wind when I hear purists debate progressives in person-centered theory. Whoever speaks last may affect my position, until the wind blows again. And somehow I value this uncomfortably unstable position.

Recently I became aware that I speak more than I like, and listen less than I like. I tend to talk about myself. While I am interested in my own searches for knowledge and meaning, I understand that other folks do not place me in the center of their world. From time to time I need to ask myself, "will they really be interested in that part of me?" What is most personal often is, as Rogers said, most universal, but there are limits, and I am aware that I have exceeded some limits in the past. I am learning.

I want to be the editor of Renaissance. The thought makes me nervous and excited at the same time. To those of you who will choose a person for this job this summer, I hereby offer my official application.

Paul Blanchard

Westford, Massachusetts

PATHwHEART@aol.com