Saturday 25 February 2012

Gerald D. Erickson D. Phil. 1935 - 1989


Gerald Erickson 1975
Gerald D. Erickson became a scholar, social worker educator, administrator, and leader in mental health practice. Following his service in the US army, he graduated from Northland College, in his home town Ashland, Wisconsin and went on to complete a master's degree in social work from the University of Michigan.

Dr. Erickson was employed by the Wisconsin Department of Health and Social Services  for two years before becoming the chief psychiatric social worker at the Marshfield  Clinic in Marshfield Wisconsin (1965 - 1969). He moved to Canada in 1969 where his skills as an educator and administrator were soon evident in positions as associate  professor of social work at the University of Manitoba (1969 - 1978), chairman and associate professor at the Department of Social Work at York University, Toronto (1978 - 1982), and director and professor at the School of Social Work, University of  Windsor (1982 - 1989).

Gerald Erickson was a decisive, democratic, and innovative administrator who strongly believed that a university served the needs of the community. He was the founding graduate program director at York University, Toronto, of a unique part - time master's program based on a tutorial  model. At the University of  Windsor he advocated for a part-time master's program as well as evening and weekend classes, and upgraded the quality of the field placement's.

During a two year sabbatical from the University of Manitoba, he moved with his family to York, England, to pursue his doctoral degree which he received in  1976. In the 13 years after completing his D.Phil , until his death in 1989,  Dr. Erickson achieved a remarkable body of scholarly research, teaching, writing, and developing social work education. He served on the editorial boards of Canada's Mental Health, the International Journal of Family Therapy  and the Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health. He presented papers at many national and international conferences, and was a consultant to numerous human service organizations.

Dr. Erickson was the author of articles published in many prominent journals in his field . In 1975 he published the seminal article, "The concept of Social Network in Clinical Practice" which, in combination with subsequent articles in the same area substantially increased his reputation in the field of social network theory. His July 1987 article," Against the Grain: Decentering Family Therapy" elicited more responses, according to the editor, than any previous article in the history of the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy. Despite his comparatively late start in entering academia, Dr. Gerald Erickson made an enduring contribution to social work education and to the literature on family therapy, social networks and social support.


Below are links to some of the published articles of Dr. Gerald D. Erickson.

A Menu Note on the Cybernetic Network

Against the Grain: Decentering Family Therapy

A Framework and Themes for Social Network Intervention 

Family Therapy: An introduction to Theory and Technique 

The Concept of Personal Network in Clinical Practice 

Controlling Auditory Hallucinations 

This blog site is maintained in the memory of the late Dr. Erickson.