We mourn the loss of a colleague.
To honor his presence in our lives, we offer excerpts from Jill van der Aa’s complete obituary, which will be published in our Summer issue online June 15, 2018
“In a world which is increasingly superficial and directed to appearances and the outside world Joop was a man of character and depth. Not to say that he didn’t care for his personal appearance – on the contrary, he did. He dressed with flair. Perhaps the first thing you noticed about him was his beautiful coat or hand-crafted shoes; then his tall stature, greying hair and marked face, which could crease with a grin and warmth, or with great seriousness.
Joop listened. He chewed over what you said – perhaps for some minutes, some hours or sometimes days. Then would come a comment or an answer to a question or a problem, which he had considered from many different angles. He was never satisfied with a simple answer – his solutions were rounded, thought out, compassionate, surprising, meaningful.
Joop had been with the EABP from the beginning. He was a psychologist and trained in Unitive Body Psychotherapy with Jay Stattman. He had attended all the congresses and worked on several committees including the Training Standards Committee. Joop was present at the formation of the FORUM and the COUNCIL of National Associations.
Joop made an enormous contribution to EABP from its beginnings in 1989 up until today. As few others, he participated in the COUNCIL, the FORUM, many committees, on the Board and indeed as President. He was prominent in forming the thinking about body psychotherapy and the EABP and in all the work he did gave it a face and a body.
In 2012 (Congress Vienna) Joop was given the EABP Honorary Membership.”
Joop’s photo was taken by Erwin Olaf during the last weeks of his life.
To read Jill’s complete story/obituary, please read our Summer issue online June 15, 2018
Jill van der Aa
