Roy Huggins. Person Centered Tech. Brilliant colleague, now on the other side.
We first “met” virtually, oh, what? A dozen years ago? You were so astute at all of the HIPAA things our profession needed to know. I remember one of our first conversations- you said that you didn’t want to “step on my toes” because we were both training others about the use of technology in mental health practice. I assured you that I was not offended. In fact, I welcomed your deeper expertise regarding HIPAA and our responsibilities to hold up this federal mandate in the United States.
You were a luminary in the dark crevices that haunted many therapists regarding the use of technology.
I thought it so kind and respectful of you to want to check in with our similar yet different efforts within the field over a decade ago. My focus was and still is the clinical and theoretical implications to online work. We were in the same wheelhouse, but each of us coming from a different lens. The more the merrier, I thought. Having you to point people to when the HIPAA hand was raised (in every in-person and virtual workshop I have ever conducted) was a gift. A link to your website is in every online therapy course offering, with as much of a mandate as I can give for students to sign up for your newsletter. You were collaborative, not competitive and that was so refreshing.
As we collaborated early on, you wrote an article for our magazine, TILT~ Therapeutic Innovations in Light of Technology. A Distance Counselor’s Ohanashi*: Coming to Work with People in Japan in 2013, a lovely multicultural piece about working in Asia via distance.
In 2016 you contributed a chapter to our edited book, Technology in Mental Health: Applications in Practice, Supervision and Training. You chapter entitled; Using Mobile Phone Communications for Therapeutic Intervention was an asset to the field of telemental health.
And then we were not so much in touch anymore, other than us subscribing to the other’s updates. Of course, we would occasionally nod on social media. Until the pandemic. And then you and I needed to catch up. Like, WHAT is happening? What we had been teaching and preaching was now knowledge that was eminently needed. We compared notes and talked about how we could cross-refer to one another during the difficult time as we were both ramping up therapists to work solely online for the foreseeable future.
I was recently appointed to a virtual therapy platform’s advisory board and you recognized that appointment on Linkedin. That was my last “interaction” with you. I knew though that when you “liked” that post, you were on board in any way you needed to be. You were always only an email or a phone call away.
Roy, you were a kind soul and you were the consummate professional. Your light shined in all your work. You were approachable and humble. And you will be terribly missed.
Online Therapy Institute- DeeAnna Nagel & Kate Anthony
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If you would like to contribute to GoFundMe to assist Roy’s wife, Electra Allenton with adjustments to this new reality, go to: https://www.gofundme.com/f/surviving-the-loss-of-roy-huggins
I advise all mental health professionals across the globe to sign up for his newsletter because knowing Roy, he left solid, grounded footing in his stead. https://personcenteredtech.com/my-account/
