It has been one full year since the death of Beck Institute’s co-founder and my father, Dr. Aaron T. Beck. And although we are always looking toward the future at Beck Institute, his memory is with us every day. This past July, we held the first annual Aaron T. Beck Day to honor his legacy by asking people around the world to pledge to do one thing to promote mental health in their communities. Over 500 people from nearly 70 countries responded by holding free talks, advocating for increased access to mental health services, spending time with someone in need, and hosting conferences.
I know my father would have been so proud to see these projects come to life. I certainly am.
My father passed away just 4 months after his 100th birthday. Since his centennial, and in the months following his death, we received hundreds of messages from people around the world sharing what he meant to them. Here are a few:
Tim Beck has helped more people than anyone in the history of psychiatry and psychology. His CBT took the mumbo jumbo out of psychotherapy and instead distilled its essence of common sense, curiosity, courage, collaboration, benevolence, and human relatedness.
-Allen Frances, MD
Under the leadership of Dr. Beck, Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) has become a well-established empirical psychological intervention for multiple psychiatric disorders adopted in Greater China…the live demonstrations given by Dr. Beck during his workshops…serve as my driving force to disseminate CBT to novice therapists and psychiatric communities in Hong Kong, Mainland China, Asia and other parts of the world.
-Roger MK Ng, MD
More than anyone, Dr. Beck has changed the face of psychotherapy practice and research. Most importantly, his leadership and generosity have united cognitive therapists around the world and enabled them to develop healthy collaborations and to support each other’s endeavors. This model of how to undertake academic and clinical work continues to inspire every new generation of mental health workers around the world.
-Jan Scott, MD
Besides the clinicians and researchers around the world with whom he worked and maintained close relationships, my father’s work has touched the lives of the countless individuals they serve, as well as their families and communities.
Towards the end of his life, he developed Recovery-Oriented Cognitive Therapy (CT-R) alongside our co-director of the BI Center for CT-R, Dr. Paul Grant. CT-R was initially developed to help people given a diagnosis of schizophrenia or another serious mental health condition. Dr. Grant and our team now use CT-R in a wide variety of settings and populations across the United States and in other countries.
It is possible to keep someone’s memory alive while moving forward and continuing to grow. That is what we are doing at Beck Institute, and what so many clinicians and researchers around the world are doing, as well.
Are you planning on joining us for next year’s Aaron T. Beck Day? Let us know what you plan to do to celebrate by filling out this form.