I was born and grew up in New York, then at 21 years old I moved to Europe. I spent 16 years in England, mostly London, and 1 year in France, mostly Paris, and then moved again to Australia in 1990. For more than 25 years, I have lived and worked in Perth, Western Australia. Cath, my wife and I share 6 children, 5 boys and 1 girl – ranging in age between 23 and 32, and 1 grandchild with another on the way.
I studied philosophy, psychology and music at university in the 70s; these subjects have always remained a passion. I have been involved in the study and practice of psychotherapy, specifically phenomenology and psychoanalysis, since my uni days, for over 40 years now. I have been having an on-going love affair with the arts including painting, sculpture, music (various genres), theatre and dance for my entire adult life. Whenever possible, I go to see and hear whatever is ‘on’ and feel enormously enriched. I have played piano on and off over the years and one of my greatest regrets is not to have had more time for it. I have also played sport for most of my life until 1998 when injury curtailed this activity, but I can play AFL football vicariously. I have been fortunate to travel a good deal and perhaps uniquely lived a third of my life in the US, another third in Europe and the past third or more now in Australia – which has taught me much about these different cultures. And I have made my personal relationships a priority and feel so grateful for my kids, and theirs, plus my friends, past lovers and longer-term partners, specifically for the opportunity to love and be loved which has made life most worth living. No doubt this have much to do with why my first published book is on the theme of love and relationship called How Two Love.
Lastly, my role as father is perhaps the most important of all. Being a parent has been the greatest challenge and most profoundly rewarding role of my adult life. I am blessed with having six awesome kids, which has enriched my life immeasurably, more than I can say. The experience of raising them has also ‘raised’ me as a Dad and as a person. I can only hope they have benefitted at least a fraction as much from me as I have from them.
It’s difficult to answer the question: who am I? – without reference to work (next page) but perhaps this goes some way toward a sense of what is important to me.