Gentle and Fierce

Dr. Gladding was a kind, gentle, inspiring, encouraging, and humorous mentor. He always made me feel as if I was the most important person in the room and inspired me to pursue opportunities I didn't think I could have. I've only met Dr. Gladding once at the 2020 IAMFC World Conference in New Orleans, LA. I remember asking Jen Toof if she was attending and she had said no so I wasn't planning on attending. I decided to submit a conference proposal and register for the conference because Dr. Gladding told me that he looked forward to meeting me in person. On the day of my presentation, I had technical difficulties. My copresenter brought his laptop but we couldn't figure out how to get his laptop screen to show on the projector screen. I was tasked with finding someone from IT to help us. I saw Dr. Gladding instead and I remember shouting out "Dr. Gladding!!" to which he replied "yes...?" I told him I was very excited to meet him and that I would tell Dr. LA I got to meet him in person. He laughed, shook my hand, and asked me what I was doing. I told him that I was looking for IT to help with the projector screen. He helped me find IT and when my presentation started, he came to watch. It was my second in-person conference presentation and I was a nervous wreck because Dr. Gladding decided to sit in the front row and take notes. I thought to myself, what could he possibly be writing? At the end of the presentation, he thanked me for presenting on such an important topic (utilizing systemic practices when counseling military clients with substance addictions). He must have seen the confused look on my face because he proceeded to tell me that he was in the army. I watched him present after my presentation and he talked about creative ways counselors can work with clients. I was mesmerized by his presentation style. It was more like graceful dancing and storytelling than presenting. He talked about using cinematherapy as an intervention. I told him how fascinating his presentation was and he sent me a list of movies and shows that he used in the courses he taught. He encouraged me to find new movies and shows to add to the list rather than using his list because our field is always changing. He also encouraged me to use cinematherapy with military veterans and dependents. I'm so grateful he did. I was hesitant in the beginning but it was so therapeutic. I learned so much about how to successfully use it as an intervention. I still use it with some of my clients. I gave him a hard time because he decided to use bright neon green as a font color against a white background and everyone watching his presentation had a difficult time making out the words on the slides (myself included). He scratched his head and said he didn't know why he thought it was a good font color. 😂 Since then he has taken time to teach me how to write conference proposals for ACA, encouraged me to work on a research study with Dr. Hayden, and encouraged me to continue the research he was doing regarding cinematherapy. Dr. Gladding taught me two important lessons of this profession: use humor and always be humble. He will be dearly missed.