Group-Analytic Contexts, Issue 81, September 2018

Newsletter – Autumn 2018 51
McCluskey and Anne Harrow, for intending group therapists across
the various disciplines.
In 1985, she published Using Groups to Help People (with a
2nd edition in 2001). Dorrie regarded herself as a practical woman,
but always with the rider (and a nod to Kurt Lewin) that `there is
nothing so practical as a good theory` - and that is shot through her
writing, inter-locking theory and practice. The book has sold many
thousands of copies and has gone on to be a classic, being used on
training courses in the UK, the USA, Europe and Australia.
Along the way, she was awarded Honorary Membership of
the IGA. And, in 1991, she gave the 15th S.H. Foulkes Annual
Lecture, Transposing Learnings from Group Psychotherapy to Work
Groups, thereby anticipating a substantial future development within
the IGA. But, effectively, this was to be her last contact with this
organisation. It was a great pity that she was so neglected as a teacher
and researcher within the IGA - a huge resource overlooked.
The latter period of her career was taken up by new ventures
(Learning Programmes) commissioned by The Department of Health,
wherein social workers were encouraged and equipped to develop a
research perspective in their work. This work (with Lesley Archer and
Lesley Hicks) involved identifying and building on their own `practice
wisdom`. Another project, also sponsored by the Department of
Health, was to do with good practice in residential child care. An
expert group was appointed to steer this work and inevitably Dorrie
was to the fore in this.
Despite her slender physique, Dorrie Whitaker was a robust
figure, physically, mentally and interpersonally. On one occasion,
when we were looking back at the setting up of a new university
department, I commented on the opportunities there must have been
for `acting out`, with competing agendas and personal rivalries. With
a glint in her eye, she spoke of the benefits of having `sharp elbows`;
then, unbidden, she said “Stand No Crap!”. Unsure I had heard right,
I asked her to repeat it. She did, and I convulsed with laughter.
Recognisable, always with her shock of long white hair, she
held fast to the dictum that `old age is not for the faint-hearted`. Until
relatively late in years, she was a determined cross-country skier and
a keen sailor, with Galvin, going up and down the Norwegian
coastline. She lived independently and, until a year ago, was to be seen
driving down the narrow country lanes, travelling to Ripon for her
shopping.
She was content with her lot in life - grateful for all she had,
never pursuing what she did not have. The descriptions which people