Maria Gomori

Maria Gomori
Born (1920-05-25)May 25, 1920
Citizenship Canadian
Spouse(s) Paul Gomori (deceased)

Maria Gomori, M.S.W., Dip.C., Ph.D. (born May 25, 1920) is a pioneer in the field of systems family therapy. She has a long and disciplined background, and has made significant contributions to the fields of psychiatric and social work training, having designed numerous successful training programs. She is the foremost living proponent of the Satir Method for Family Therapy in the world. In 2004, she was named "Woman of Distinction" for the field of Health and Wellness by the City of Winnipeg. In the same year Winnipeg's Saint Boniface Hospital Research Centre established a lectureship in her name to honour her long and varied contributions to the health system and the people who use it.[1]

Life and career

She earned a B.A. at the Sorbonne, an Economics degree in her native Budapest, an M.S.W. at the University of Manitoba, Dip.C. from the Haven Institute and Ph.D. from the Open International University. Dr. Gomori developed the family therapy training program for the residents in psychiatry at St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg, MB, and was the Coordinator and Director of the Social Work Department at this hospital for 14 years. Since her retirement, she has continued to lecture and offer seminars and workshops around the world, teaching annually in China and Taiwan and North America, even at the age of 88.[2] She has collaborated with Bennet Wong and Jock McKeen for over thirty years, and is an Emeritus Faculty of the Haven Institute.

Her life story is one of courage. After enduring the Nazi incursion into her native Budapest in the 1940s, she completed her education and rose quickly in the Hungarian government's department of Economics. She fled Hungary in 1956 in the midst of the Hungarian Revolution, and emerged in the free world without money or possessions with her husband and young son. They moved to Winnipeg, Canada, where she studied social work. Her life focus has been on freedom.[3][4][5] She has received numerous honours and citations.[6][7]

Gomori is a family therapist in private practice, and a retired Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Manitoba's Faculty of Medicine. Gomori also is a Clinical Member and Approved Supervisor with AAMFT, the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy. She worked intensively with Virginia Satir for over 20 years and has been a faculty member and advanced trainer in Satir's Avanta International Training Organization since 1981. Dr. Gomori is also a certified practitioner and Master Programmer in Neuro-linguistic programming.[8]

Contributions

Maria Gomori has established an international reputation as a workshop leader, teaching, demonstrating and applying her interpretation of the Satir model. She has conducted workshops throughout Canada, the United States, Europe, South America, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China and Australia. She co-authored with Virginia Satir et al. The Satir Approach to Communication and The Satir Model: Family Therapy and Beyond; the latter book was chosen by the AAMFT Foundation for the 1994 Satir Education and Research Prize.[9] Gomori has worked tirelessly in her international lectures and seminars; she been instrumental in establishing Satir Institutes in Winnipeg, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Australia, and is in great demand internationally for her workshops and training programs. She has a unique creative way of integrating Virginia Satir's approach with her learnings from many other great teachers combined with her own experiences in living.[1]

Maria's life is a testimony to the principles addressed by existential philosophies: freedom, authenticity, responsibility,and moral agency. With balance and courage, she also accepts the inevitable challenges of angst, loneliness, and paralysing uncertainties. Her mind is alive with ideas, concepts, and novel perspectives on human beings.
— Bennet Wong & Jock McKeen[10]

Publications

Notes

References

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