About StillPoint

 

The Origin of the name . . .

 

The name StillPoint was derived from T.S. Eliot's poem "Burnt Norton".  

 

At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity,
Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards,
Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance, and there is only dance.
I can only say, there we have been: but I cannot say where.
And I cannot say, how long, for that is to place it in time.

 

 

The Origin of the counseling center . . .

 

This is the third iteration of StillPoint as a counseling center.  The first StillPoint Counseling was the inspiration of Charlotte Wittiker Lewis.  It was started as a place of training for psychologists.  Charlotte was a profoundly talented psychologist and teacher.  She was well known for her generosity, wisdom, commitment, and smile.  In her clinical work, she would regularly take on the clients who others deemed were beyond help or whose treatment needs were too much, too hard, or would take too long.  It was the same in her teaching work.  She often took on the difficult students.  She believed that the students going through struggle would make more sensitive and heartfull therapists than the students who easily found success and achievement.  The first StillPoint Counseling eventually closed as Charlotte's responsibilities in the academic sphere grew.  The center was revived many years later at the request of her students.  It functioned as a small group practice and training center focused on depth psychotherapy.  The group prospered while together, but dissolved when Charlotte passed away. 

This third counseling center has maintained the name StillPoint to honor Charlotte's gift, but more so, to continue her tradition of her teaching and establish a lineage based on the values and wisdom she instilled and carry them forward.  As is often referrenced in spiritual traditions, the transmission of a lineage is less so carried in its words, but more so transmitted in the warm breath as the message is whispered in your ear.  It is a person to person experience--just like the work of psychotherapy.  StillPoint Counseling continues the core (unspeakable) transmission of growth and transformation through this person to person generosity and learning. 

 

When clients express to me their appreciation for something their have received through our interaction, I think of Charlotte and how she helped me to realize my own gifts and to become a person capable of such interactions.  Charlotte was the most trustworthy person I have known.  This made all the difference for me and is who and how I aspire to be in my relationships with others--both personal and professional.  It is a great bounty to cross paths with wise teachers in one's life, but it is transformative to find one that fully captures one's heart.  Having a teacher isn't about finding someone with all the answers.  It's about surrender, opening, being influenced, and learning--first in relationship to the person of the teacher, and then to oneself and with life.  May we each find a teacher that inspires us so, and grow to become our own teachers, and teachers of others.

 

Shawn Goozh PsyD