25/10/2024
Ian Stewart TSTA remembered:
https://eatanews.org/dr-ian-stewart-1940-2024/ This is a wonderful obituary, written by Adrienne Lee TSTA with many lovely photos that bring Ian alive in our memories. “When Ian Stewart TSTA died on 17th September we lost a giant in the world of TA. His teaching, his engagement in TA training and accreditation and his writing promoted the reputation, popularity, clarity and effectiveness of TA throughout the world.”
Fanita English once stated that a “good therapist is a good technician, an artist, a loving human being who values self-examination about their own motives and behaviours. Fanita’s description perfectly captures Ian that I loved as my TA sponsor, supervisor and trainer, and later as a colleague in a group we knew as the “gentle persons” group.
My first meeting with Ian must have been in 1987 or early 1988 in his home /office which was an old schoolhouse. We sat in an almost empty, white-washed room on two old school chairs, the only other furniture was a mattress leaning against one wall, and of course the purpose of the conversation was to establish a clear contract with a well-defined and observable outcome. At the end of the session, I asked what the mattress was for, and without explanation he informed me that mattress was used when doing the therapy. Ian became my TA supervisor and sponsor, and a role model for TA training that I still honour in YTCi and in the TA programmes that I now run. I went on to join the wonderful TA training group which Ian ran with Adrienne Lee. I can hear Ian asking me what the client wants to change and what my contract is, and I can hear his voice echoing through me as I ask my supervisees and trainees the same questions he once asked.
Other memories are piles of TA today in the schoolhouse ready to be distributed. His enthusiasm for EATA, the CTA / TSTA examination process and of course his love of Morris dancing, and his musicianship, there was a beautiful harpsichord in the schoolhouse. The last time we spent time together Ian and I sat quietly late one night at a TA conference enjoying a pint of his favourite beer while reflecting on how TA was developing. While I did not realise it would be the last time, we would be together, I now cherish the memory.
In these and many other ways I remember Ian and know that he continues to live through all of us who have been influenced though his writing, training, supervision and involvement and service to the TA community.
I have posted two personal photos taken during the after-exam celebrations. The one in which we all look so young is in Brussels1990, when I have just passed my CTA exam and Ian and Adrienne have completed their TSTA examinations. The second is in Zurich in 1998 when I completed my own TSTA qualification.
I finish this post with tears in my eyes, quoting Adrienne: “Ian’s legacy is rich, and his light will continue to shine through all the many people whose lives he touched and who learned so much from him. Ian you are a legend, we honour you. Thank you and farewell.”
Dave Spenceley TSTA
