Why the History of Psychology Still Matters to Me
Long before I began teaching Personal Pet Mediumship, I was deeply interested in the people, places and ideas that shaped psychology.
That interest has stayed with me for decades.
In 2016, the Cummings Center for the History of Psychology featured me in its Stories from the Stacks series after I reached out while trying to locate the New York home and office of psychologist Molly Harrower, one of my former mentors.
I had a very simple reason for wanting to find it.
I like to visit the places where important psychological work happened.
That may sound unusual, but for me these places make the history feel real. They remind me that the ideas we study were developed by actual people, in actual rooms, through years of observation, curiosity and work.
Searching for Molly Harrower
Molly Harrower had a meaningful influence on me, and I wanted to find the Upper East Side address where she had lived and worked.
The Cummings Center archivist helped me locate it through materials in the Molly Harrower papers, including a piece of her letterhead showing the address.
The search led me to 118 East 70th Street in New York City, where I was able to stand outside the building and pay tribute to someone who had played an important role in my professional life. The Cummings Center included a photograph of that visit in its feature about me.
For me, experiences like that are a way of keeping the people who influenced us present in our lives.
A Lifelong Interest in the People Behind Psychology
Molly Harrower was not the only person whose work inspired that kind of curiosity in me.
I have also visited Orgonon, the former home, office and observatory of Wilhelm Reich in Rangeley, Maine, many times.
There has always been something meaningful to me about being physically present in places connected to people whose work changed the way we think about human behavior, personality and experience.
The history of psychology has always felt personal.
The Jonas Salk Connection
One of the most memorable examples came from my own professional career.
I once served as Director of Psychology Services in a pediatric rehabilitation hospital where Dr. Jonas Salk had worked during the development of the polio vaccine.
A few months after beginning that position, I learned that the office I was using had actually been Dr. Salk’s office.
I also had the opportunity to meet him several times when he returned to the hospital.
That experience stayed with me.
There is something powerful about realizing you are working in a place where someone else once pursued questions that ultimately changed countless lives.
Why These Experiences Still Matter to Me
My professional life involved decades of work in School Psychology and Clinical Psychology.
Throughout those years, I became deeply interested in individual differences, personality, learning, behavior and the ways people perceive and process information.
That background continues to influence how I teach today.
When I work with someone exploring Personal Pet Mediumship, I pay close attention to how that individual naturally receives information, how they learn, and the patterns that shape the way they experience the world.
People do not all process information the same way.
Carrying the Past Into the Work I Do Today
My interests have changed and expanded over the course of my life, but the curiosity underneath them has remained remarkably consistent.
I have always wanted to understand how people experience the world.
I have always been interested in what shapes perception, personality and communication.
And I have always believed there is value in learning from the people who came before us.
Today, those interests are part of the foundation I bring to Personal Pet Mediumship Development.
The work itself is spiritual and educational in nature, while my background in psychology continues to influence the way I individualize the process for each person I work with.
If you would like to read the original Cummings Center feature about my search for Molly Harrower and some of the psychology history that has mattered to me over the years, you can read it here:
A Deeper Look at My Work Today
My path eventually led me from decades of work in psychology into the development of my own mediumship and, from the beginning, toward communication with companion animals.
That became the foundation for the Personal Pet Mediumship Development work I teach today.
If you are curious about how my background, spiritual perspective and experiences with companion animals came together, you can learn more about my story and the method I now use throughout this site.