Remembering A Visionary: Herb Lovett 1949-1998

March 26, 1998      A snowy highway in Maine…

I first met Herb in the summer of 1983. He was the therapist for an individual I worked with at Heritage Industries. I found his perspective on behaviors to be refreshing. The fact that the management at Heritage seemed exasperated with his suggestions and criticisms instantly caught my attention. Herb challenged almost everyone to change their way about thinking & working with the developmentally disabled. At the time I was working part time for Heritage and for Greater Lynn Mental Health. I was pleased to find out he was also seeing individuals there. In February of 1984 I called Herb and began seeing him in his office for therapy, mostly dealing with relationship issues. Herb knew more about me than any of my friends and he was great. I learned a great deal in a few months. That summer Herb was hired as a consultant to the Greater Lynn Mental Health group home I was working at in West Lynn. He told me it would be a conflict of interest for me to continue seeing him for therapy. It was okay- I was starting to feel stronger and he was a great asset to our program. I read his book COGNITIVE COUNSELING & one he co-authored GENTLE TEACHING. Herb was brilliant & motivated me to work with legislators striving to end aversive treatments in Massachusetts. After I left Greater Lynn Mental Health I didn’t hear from him often but it was always a pleasure when I did. I was stunned to hear of his tragic death in a snow related car accident in Maine. I would later learn that the day he died he had a telephone argument with his father, a Maine legislator who opposed marriage equality. The fact that he was unable to persuade his father to change his vote  left Herb anguished, according to his partner. It was sad to hear that that conflict was probably weighing heavily on Herb as he headed home to Massachusetts on those icy Maine roads. He was a great man who left us too soon.