254 - Dr. Harry J. Aponte - Revolutionizing Therapy by Embracing Human Emotional Struggles and Life Experiences
“As a therapist, you can go into therapy, but not with the idea that you're gonna have it all fixed.” - Harry J. Aponte
TLDR: Elder wisdom is essential to our revolution. That’s it, that’s the episode. But my guest deserves the elaboration and accolades of a full summary––as do many of the folks who came before us in work and life. Harry J. Aponte, Ph.D., is a legend for many reasons. However, this OG coalition-builder and advocate for culturally informed care is probably best known in professional psychology circles for developing The Person of the Therapist Training Model, which has become a cornerstone of his professional philosophy. I’m honored to share Harry’s fascinating origin story and anecdotes from his amazing career with y'all.
“I had to invent my own idea of what family therapy was since there was no one to teach me. But it worked,” recalls Harry, who began his career with Sal Minuchin at the Philadelphia Child Guidance Clinic in the 1950s-60s. It’s easy to draw similarities between the Philly of 60 years ago and today's social unrest. The segregation, disinvestment, and calculated lack of community support, which Harry also experienced growing up in Black Harlem, sadly still exist. But if his example teaches us anything, it’s that grassroots outreach is vital to transforming our world. ‘When the families are disadvantaged, then you really have to look at the community. You can't just look at the families themselves,” Harry says. His hyper-local focus fostered trust and informed his approach to communal care. “We started something that worked, and it had its roots in the community.”
Coalition-building without bona fide compassion is a non-starter. The Person of the Therapist Training Model centers on the “radical” idea that a therapist’s personal life informs their professional outlook. Harry believes that deeply human experiences like loss, recovery, hardship, and healing almost always make us better therapists and that these commonalities close the distance between therapist and client. “When you sit down with people, if you wanna know who they are, you have to be vulnerable yourself,” says Harry. “I have problems. You have problems. They have problems. If you're going to relate to their problems, you have to relate to them as a wounded healer yourself.”
May we all grow to be so wise.
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MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Philadelphia Child Guidance Clinic
GUEST CONTACT AND BIO
Aponte Training Institute
Harry J. Aponte, Ph.D., was born in the United States to Puerto Rican parents, he earned his Master's in Social Work from Fordham University in 1959. His career took a significant turn when he began working with Sal Minuchin at the Philadelphia Child Guidance Clinic, eventually becoming the Clinic's Director. He has delivered lectures across Europe, South America, Korea, and throughout the United States. Additionally, he is the author of several influential books and is currently in private practice. Early in his career, he developed a keen interest in leveraging therapists’ personal life experiences to connect with clients, understand their issues, and apply these insights in therapeutic work. This approach, known as Person of the Therapist Training, has become a cornerstone of his professional philosophy.
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