Meet roger lowe

Are you curious about the Phoenix teaching team? Then welcome to the sixth of the Teaching Team Introduction series of blogs to introduce Leonie and the Phoenix Family Therapy Teaching Team Associates and Guest Teaching Associates.

Relationships are at the heart of family therapy and systemic practice and start with introductions.  It’s important that at Phoenix we practice what we teach and embrace the relational principles that we espouse. So let’s keep going with getting to know the team in this blog series.

From Roger:

How did your interest in family therapy and systemic practice get sparked?

 Being trained as a clinical psychologist in Sydney, I was a dyed in the wool CBT practitioner when I moved to Brisbane in the Orwellian year of 1984. This was a time when systemic therapy was just starting to be noticed and I kept hearing about the different models that were being developed. Out of curiosity, and from an initially critical perspective, I began to attend workshops offered by QAFT (Qld Association of Family Therapy ) and to read publications like the Family Therapy Networker. To my surprise, I found some of the ideas stimulating and persuasive and began to infiltrate them into my work as a university trainer of counsellors. In those days, there were no family therapy courses available in Queensland, so for me, it was a matter of having to learn it by teaching it.  Being self-taught probably accounts for the kinds of systemic ideas that most appealed to me. I could never quite grasp methods like circular questioning from the Milan Model which literally went around in circles for me. But I could grasp more structured models like MRI (Mental Research Institute), Solution Focused Therapy and Narrative Therapy (though it wasn’t called that at the time). For someone from a  CBT background, these models were easier to learn: You start from here…and you get to there.  I have sometimes wondered how different I might be now if I had had supervision from a Milan therapist.

What frameworks are you drawn to and why? And which figures in family therapy have been your biggest influences?

I consider myself to be a Brief therapist. I have always valued the potential of psychotherapy, but am skeptical about “medicine envy”: the temptation for therapists to present themselves as assessing, diagnosing, treating, curing and healing identifiable “disorders".  Therefore, I have always been drawn to the most straightforward, brief and minimalist approaches - ones that try to interfere least with a client’s life, while supporting personal agency and opening up possibilities for change. I have been mainly influenced by Solution-focused brief therapy, Narrative Therapy and Reflecting team approaches. Over the years I have attended workshops and talks with therapists such as Steve de Shazer, Insoo Berg, Bill O’hanlon, Michael White, David Epston, Tom Andersen and others.  These were and are formative influences for me.

How has systemic thinking and practice influenced your work?

 "Other Voices, Other Rooms” is the title of a novel by Truman Capote.  I think this title captures my sense of systemic practice.  Whoever I am working with, I wonder…what other voices from what other rooms might be important here?

Why have you chosen to go into a teaching/supervising/mentoring role in this field?

Old habits die hard! Though I am retired now, I still hope that I have something to offer new participants in systemic therapy. I am still enthused about learning and sharing new things in areas that interest me. Perhaps old family therapists never die...they just keep saying the same things in hopefully new ways.

If you could give one piece of advice to our program participants starting the 2-year accredited training program, the Advanced Certificate in Systemic Family Therapy and Practice, what would it be?

 “Go slow” is what Strategic Therapists used to say to clients in order to restrain change. Of course, that was meant as a paradoxical message, but I think it is a useful literal suggestion at the start of this course. In our social media age, there is a temptation to make instant judgements about everything. Instead, take the time to create a reflective space where you can experience different approaches without the need to master them, assimilate them, judge them, etc. Perhaps then you will be able to integrate the different models in a way that fits for you and your clients.

What is something you love to do when you aren’t working?

 I want to travel as much as I can, while my physical and financial health permits.  I recently celebrated my 75th birthday at the wonderful Iguazu waterfalls on the border of Brazil and Argentina.  Perhaps if I had my life over I would write a book about the therapeutic benefits of travel!

Roger Lowe

Counsellor & Supervisor

Lecturer QUT

Author

Retired Psychologist & Retired Clinical Family Therapist

Teaching Team Member Phoenix Family Therapy Academy

Please note that this article is educational in nature and does not constitute professional or therapeutic advice or suggestion.