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№ 2010.016 — San Francisco State University — Commencement address
Kirk Schneider
Psychologist Kirk Schneider addresses the 2010 Master's in Counseling class at San Francisco State University, drawing on personal experiences—including discouragement from an early adviser and the death of his brother—to argue for an awe-centered, present approach to counseling. He encourages graduates to be 'awe-advocacy' agents who relate to clients as whole human beings, citing research on contextual factors such as empathy, alliance, and presence as central to effective therapy. He closes by reciting Oriah Mountain Dreamer's poem 'The Invitation' and urging graduates to live and embody the work personally.
Key moments
- 01 Recounts being discouraged from psychology by an adviser and later returning as a lecturer
- 02 Tells the Taoist tale of the Chinese farmer to illustrate openness to mystery
- 03 Distinguishes 'social adjustment agents' from 'awe-advocacy' agents and cites research on contextual factors
- 04 Shares his brother's death and the analyst's 'presence' that helped him as a child
- 05 Recites Oriah Mountain Dreamer's poem 'The Invitation'
Transcript
The full transcript is hosted by the original publisher. Commencement Archive links to the source rather than republishing copyrighted text.
Read the full transcript at source →Provenance
Imported from NPR commencement archive; cross-referenced with Open Commencement DB
NPR archive last updated in 2015; destination availability has not been exhaustively rechecked | Open Commencement DB transcript; not independently verified against the original recording