Emerson Johnson

About

The first hour is looser than people expect and there is no form to complete about your feelings. You talk about whoever it is you have lost, in whatever order it comes out, and I mostly try to understand who they actually were rather than collecting facts about the death. That surprises people. A widow I worked with once said that every professional she met wanted the date and the cause, and not one of them had asked what he was actually like. I ask what they were like. It matters, because what you are missing is a specific person rather than an abstraction, and the work only makes sense once I can see them too. I came back to clinical work after a stretch in administration, and I have never regretted returning to the actual room. This is where the useful conversations happen. If you would like an hour with someone who wants to know who they were, get in touch.