UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
Counseling and Human Development Center
To Whom It May Concern,
I am writing to endorse -- enthusiastically - proposals for grant funding for expansion of applications of Pesso Boyden System Psychomotor.
I’ve worked with Al Pesso for close to fifteen years -- learning through participation in an on-going psychomotor group for psychotherapists in the Columbia, SC-Charlotte NC area.
As with all outstanding new approaches (e.g. Gestalt in the 70’s) therapists learn and then mold a therapy to fit with the integrity of their own beings as psychotherapists.
I come close to being a relative purist: one of my clients (a therapist herself) upon seeing Al work with an individual at a state conference, commented to me, “He does it just like you!” That of course, was quite a compliment for me.
My applications are mainly in a University setting -- working with students and sometimes faculty and staff -- in both group settings and in individual sessions/ Graduate students, most those in the helping professions (psychology, counseling, rehab, social work) are the major participants. However, some of the most profound breakthroughs have been with skeptical graduate students from the sciences. These have reported (conversions) as far as comfort with feelings, clarity in regard to their relationships with parents, and frequently, the ending of blocks to degree progress and blocks to positive relationship.
Issues that Individual clients deal with and Participants in groups work on are similar: survival of abuse (sexual, physical, and psychological) ACOA issues, and a myriad of other family of origin problems.
I would like to see more empirical research undertaken. I would like teaching faculty to become more involved. As a practitioner on a campus, time for research, the help of graduate assistants, money for research is nil. I would love to be able to entice faculty to collaborate with me on research but most are uninterested unless there is funding.
Again, I enthusiastically support every effort to locate financial support for research and for the expansion of PBSP.
Sincerely,
Ruthann Fox-Hines, Ph.D.
Counseling Psychologist
Coordinator of Group/Workshop Programming
Counseling and Human Development Center
University of South Carolina
