Remembrance - Juan Pares Plans |
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Juan Pares Plans PLEASE NOTE: Scottish Addiction Studies has established an online form for friends and colleagues to leave their memories and thoughts of our dear friend. Your memories will be added to this site. If you would like to leave a message about Juan Pares Plans, please click HERE. With many others worldwide, I was terribly saddened to hear the news of Juan Pares Plans death on the 18 th October. He was wonderful friend and dedicated to CeIS in Roma, but always shared his knowledge and creative humour when possible with others within the field. He was a true friend and mentor to me, and to many who sought his advice, and was always ready to add a little humour with his straight talking- I miss him and treasure our times together. My thoughts are with our colleagues and friend at CeIS, and I think of you during these sad days. Anthony Slater President, EFTC Can I add my own tribute to Juan, whom I met again not that long ago over dinner with David Turner in Rome. Juan was of course one of the founding fathers of the EFTC, and his contribution and support were vital to it not being a just northern European entity. I remember him as man of great charm, élan, humour and style, the superlatives are endless: in all, a generous soul. I am not a religious man, but if I was I am sure Juan will be up there in heaven full of warmth, as well as recommendations for good restaurants! David Tomlinson Former CEO, Phoenix UK & Former President, EFTC With deep sadness I extend my thoughts to CeIS on the loss of Juan. He will be greatly missed. A light has gone out. George De Leon Former Director, Center for Therapeutic Community Research It was so sad to hear that Juan has passed away. He was a real inspiration for so many in the field. We all loved him very much. I remember his hospitality and amiable leadership. I especially remember a nice dinner in the company of Donald Ottenberg and Harold Bridger. I will never forget the outstanding conferences and institutes at Roma. My thoughts also go to Mario and our Italian friends who were so close to him. Eric Broekaert Professor of Orthopedagogics, Universiteit Gent & Former President, EFTC Estimado Juan, A través de la presente me despido de tí, no sin ántes poder agradecerte por el tiempo compartido en Roma o cuando visitabas Viena. Te recordaré como un hombre increible, inteligente, abierto, cultisimo y con un enorme corazón. Adios Juan, Hasta siempre. Mag. Aida Bohrn Institut für Sozial u.Gesundheitspsychologie, Viena, Austria The genius of Juan, gained from his experience in many countries, was to recognise that ideas and programmes had to be embedded in the history and culture of a country and a locality. They could not just be imported and expected to work. In 1984, Juan proposed that CeIS should not only host the 8 th conference of the World Federation of Therapeutic Communities but that there should be an Institute with a more restricted attendance. That Institute is still talked about in awe by those who were present and remains a major reference point in the development of therapeutic communities for addiction treatment. There have been efforts to replicate it but they have never managed the same impact. It is difficult to attend a conference or meeting almost anywhere in the world where Juan could not offer contacts or where someone would not ask after him and recall meetings with him which had enthused them with new ideas or opportunities. He was and he made CeIS an intellectual explorer always seeking for the best, always offering ideas but never possessive or concerned by ownership – at least for himself. It was this quality perhaps, above all else, which made him so respected and so influential in a world of competing egos. He never sought the limelight but it was drawn to him by his personality, his intellect and his openness to what might be possible. And it is because of this that so many people around the world now mourn the loss of a mentor and friend. David Turner CeIS Roma, Italy I first met Juan at the 3rd World Conference of Therapeutic Communities in Rome in 1978. David Tomlinson and I arrived in Rome to find that we had both assumed that the other one had details of the conference venue. Two daft Brits alone in Rome with no workable Italian and no idea of where to go! It was late in the day before we tracked down the venue and arrived footsore and weary to be welcomed by Juan with a smile and a cigar apiece - both equally huge. He found our travails enormously amusing (though he politely never alluded to our stupidity). I'm sure he regaled fellow diners with the story for years after. I'm equally sure that if that story WAS told it was always in a gently mischevious way that would have had David and I laughing too. As we say in Scotland, he was "a wee dancer!" Rowdy Yates Scottish Addiction Studies, University of Stirling, Scotland I found this quote in an article about Juan when he was the choreographer and director of ballet for television. It comes from The Age in Melbourne and was published on 7 November, 1967: "As he is a constant inventor and experimenter, the production demands unusual effort on the part of all those working in the studio. Everbody's brain is taxed to help find the ways and means of bringing about the effects that are wanted. This is what is exciting." It may be 40 years old as an article, but what it describes so perfectly represents Juan in CeIS right to the end. Always inventing, always experimenting, and often frustrated because we lesser beings could not fully grasp what he was trying to achieve. David Turner CeIS Roma, Italy Juan was a magnificent dancer through life and one of the foremost creative forces in the international therapeutic community movement. Whoever he touched with his inspiration was strengthened in their work with addiction. We will miss him and remember him for his gifts to us and his boundless love of life which he extended to those in most need. Charlie Kaplan Associate Dean of Research, Graduate College of Social Work, University of Houston, USA. I am very saddened at the news about Juan. He was a most generous friend and a dedicated sharer. His many new ideas and experiences which he and his colleagues trail-blazed, from family work to day programmes, he also made available to other TCs. The Institute also made accessible international initiators like Victor Frankl to us all. His energy, colour, charm, generosity and friendship brightened the lives of all who met him. He certainly brightened mine and I shall miss him very much. Jim Cumberton Former President , EFTC. Leave your own message or memory here View other TC pioneer remembrance pages here |
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