My Psychoanalytic Story: with Frank Lowe

Niamh: Tell us your name, where you’re based and as much about your professional background as you’d like to share.

Frank: Okay, so my name is Frank Lowe, I was born in the Caribbean, on an island called Grenada. I came to the UK at the age of 16 and came to Wembley in Brent, where I did my A-levels. From there I went to Warwick University, and I did Psychology, but psychology was very different to something called psychotherapy, which was my interest.

So, I went from my Psychology degree to work in a place called the Richmond Fellowship and that was the beginning of my mental health knowledge and experience, and it was a critical part of my development really. It led me to train as a psychotherapist, which was the profession that I think I really wanted to be in. It was very satisfying, and I was very pleased that I had gone down that track.

My journey basically led to psychotherapy, because I was interested in listening and understanding people. I was interested in building their trust and being trustworthy, and if you trust someone you can share your pain.

Niamh: Can you tell me a bit more about your work at the Richmond Fellowship?

Frank: The Richmond Fellowship was a very fundamental base for me, because it was mental health work in a therapeutic community. I didn’t just gain knowledge from the seniors who supervised me and so on, it was the people I worked with, and the good fortune for me was the diversity of the people who I worked with. I was working with people from different backgrounds, and the therapeutic community is a kind of open space, and I learned so much not just about mental health but about people. Being from the Caribbean, you bring in your own culture and history, but then you learn from other people who you meet. This may sound very basic, but it made me have a much broader understanding of people in the world really.

It was the same when I went to university, I think I’ve been very lucky, I’m sure many other people have had that sort of experience as well but for me it was amazing meeting people from different backgrounds and living with some of them. I think that broadened my life. You learn so many things, not just knowledge but about food, about conversation, about trust, about gender. These sound like petty things but these were big steps in my growing up…

Niamh: What kept you focused on psychoanalysis? What is it that drove you to stay on that path? How did you know that that’s what you wanted to pursue?

Frank: I think a fundamental factor was that when I was a child in the Caribbean, I had an older sister who, at the time, I thought was psychotic. But she wasn’t psychotic, I think she was quite frustrated because her boundaries weren’t very good, so my mother used to have to be quite strict with her. I couldn’t understand it as a child, you see, because she was a big person, and I learnt that actually, although she was an older person, and I was a child, she didn’t know how to kind of draw lines. And I think that was something that probably gave me a path to kind of think about people, and to think about myself as well, and which led me to do psychotherapy. I think it’s linked a lot with that background, because as a child you don’t really understand. I think that experience as a child left me with a kind of curiosity about her difference. I think that’s been a huge factor in my influence of human beings.

Niamh: Are there any professional lessons in your training and development that stick out to you?

Frank: My first learning was in the therapeutic community, the Richmond Fellowship, which involved a lot group work, that really educated me. For a lot of the group work, it’s about listening, but also ensuring that each person in the group, especially the patients, have the right to be able to speak. It was common that some people could dominate and have a lot to say! What I learned as a trainee, if you’re facilitating a group, you have to create a space that not one person is taking up all the time. We say that this is a space for everyone and we have to share the time and sometimes I’d have to find the confidence to stop some people in order to let others talk. It sounds very simple, but that was absolutely critical, and I learnt it, I learned how to do it. When it worked, it worked really wonderfully because each person realised that they did want to speak and not just remain silent. I learned how creative and helpful it is when we are really thinking and considering things about others, not just about the self. The key is listening and also sharing.

Niamh: Did you find personal therapy beneficial in your journey to becoming a psychotherapist?

Frank: Yes, it was in the process of personal therapy that made me realise that all of us have things that we carry. The issue, then, is that some of us don’t open up and if you don’t it can be costly. By talking about yourself, allowing yourself to be honest, and trusting someone, allowed me to get things out which led me to be a bit lighter and more open. I lived better as a result of those things, which led to my marriage and my wonderful wife. I think I’m a better parent than I would have been if I hadn’t gone through that process. My going into therapy was really helpful, it was beneficial for me, it made me want to do that for others, to provide something similar.

Niamh: How do you feel about retirement? Is it something you’re ready for or do you feel like you could continue your work forever?

Frank: Oh, I think of it as a joy. I worked hard in my career, retiring really gave me release. I had more opportunity to do things for the enjoyment, like play with my grandchild. I’m like a little kid again! I’m at a very different phase in my life and it is enjoyable, touch wood!