Houston Galveston Institute
| Founded | 1977 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Harlene Anderson, Harry Goolishian, Paul Dell, George Pulliam |
| Location | |
| Website | www.talkhgi.org |
The Houston Galveston Institute is a non-profit organization that offers a method of collaborative counseling and postmodern therapy to individuals, families and communities of all socioeconomic backgrounds. The Institute is strongly associated with collaborative language systems (or Collaborative Therapy), a type of postmodern therapy that works with clients within a cooperative partnership that holds their expertise in high regard, and that encourages them to access their own natural resources to develop solutions to their problems. The Houston Galveston Institute is a sponsor of the International Journal of Collaborative Practices.
The beginnings of the Houston Galveston Institute date back to the 1950s at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas with the federally funded family therapy project to research the Multiple Impact Theory. In 1978, the Galveston Family Institute was established by Harlene Anderson, Ph.D., Paul Dell, Ph.D., Harold Goolishian, Ph.D. and George Pulliam, M.S.W. to meet the demands of mental health professionals seeking to increase their understanding of families and further develop their skills in systems-oriented therapy with individuals, couples, families and groups. From this group, the ideas of Collaborative Language System Theory emerged. The institute officially became the Houston Galveston Institute in the 1990s when the project expanded beyond Galveston. Other contributors are Diane Gehart, Sue Levin, Diana Carleton, Lynn Hoffmann, Tom Andersen, Vivien Burr, John Cromby, Kenneth Gergen, Mary Gergen, Lois Holzman, Imelda McCarthy, Susan McDaniel, Sheila McNamee, Robert Neimeyer, David Nightingale, Peggy Penn, Sallyann Roth, Jaakko Seikkula, John Shotter, Lois Shawver, and Michael White.
This type of approach formed at Houston Galveston Institute takes the unique stance that “problems are not solved, but dissolved in language.” Collaborative therapy is now recognized as one of the current schools of family therapy and is included in graduate school textbooks. Some of the general philosophic assumptions of the theory are:
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