Without question, my favorite movie has to be Forrest Gump! This comes as no surprise to my family and friends as I have been known to cheer passionately for the Crimson Tide of Alabama football team, play ping pong (a lot while in the Army), eat shrimp just about any way it can be prepared, ride a lawnmower for hours (cutting my mama’s grass!), have friends for whom I would have easily risked my own life to try and save if it was ever needed, and eat chocolate. In fact, just about the only thing about Forrest with which I am unable to identify is his love of running! I have never enjoyed running, not even a little bit!

One of the most endearing qualities of Forrest, to me, is the fact that he seemed to never want to be a stranger to anyone. Remember the scene in the movie of Forrest’s first day of school? The bus driver opened the door and Forrest made the comment that his mama told him to never ride with strangers! The bus driver was dumbfounded and pointed out that she was driving the bus to school and that there should not be a problem. Forrest then proceeded to introduce himself as only he could: “My name’s Forrest. Forrest Gump.” The bus driver told him what her name was and then Forrest stated: “Now we ain’t strangers no more.” To me, this is a very profound statement. How much better would our world be if we just introduced ourselves, breaking down the walls that anonymity places between us? It sound like a simple thing to do, but an introduction is a fundamental part of relationship building that many of us miss. In family systems therapy, this process is called “joining.” The idea is that the most effective therapists are the ones who are able to “join” the family group with relative ease and immediately begin to build rapport with its members so as to facilitate effective change in the family system. Lofty idea, but all it amounts to is not being afraid to introduce yourself to new people and invest in those relationships in a very real way.

In the same way, it seems that I introduce this project, your work, and our mutual successes to many different audiences on a daily basis. As a matter of fact, I introduced the MCMC project to some new folks this afternoon. Those introductions have paid off as of late, in that we are now anticipating the final vote on legislation that will authorize a continuation of the MCMC project through next Spring! There are a great many details to be worked out and we will all work hard over the next few weeks to finalize the systems, but I truly believe that we would not still be working on behalf of the clients we serve (at least not in this coordinated fashion) if we had not taken every opportunity to introduce MCMC to any and all who would listen. I am not saying that the introduction of this project was all that it took to accomplish the things we are now appreciating in terms of a potential continuation, but I am saying that we had to start somewhere. We chose the direct approach rather than waiting on others to notice and come to us to find out who we were. No, our approach is to do our best to never meet a stranger. I hope that you will share with us how you have been able to make a difference with the clients you serve because you chose to introduce yourself, to invest in the relationship, where others may have been more comfortable hiding behind the walls of anonymity. I look forward to hearing from you.

Blessings,

Stephen