WARWICK HARTIN November 18, 1933-June 3, 2024 When he was eight, Dr Warwick Hartin wrote his father a letter telling him that he wanted to publish a book. Somewhat precociously, he asked for help: and his childhood dream did become a reality. He was to write numerous books and articles on how to thrive and survive in intimate relationships.
Given his psychoanalytic training, he might agree with the statement “show me the child and I will show you the man”. No strangers to intergenerational trauma, Warwick and his brother and sister experienced it first-hand. He was born in Sydney in 1933, the son of a survivor of Villers-Bretonneux, the Somme and Passchendaele.
The enormous impact of war trauma on individuals, families and future generations was little known at that time. Just as it happens today, his father’s attempts to return to civilian life proved difficult, and he returned to farming. He sought solace in his family, the land and his religion.
Theology, families, and healing became the focus of Warwick’s life and work. Ordained as a Baptist minister, his first pulpit was in the Brisbane suburb of Stafford. Pastoral-care demands on him in this thriving parish led him to contemplate making a major career change.
He sought training in counselling and psychotherapy. It was the therapeutic work of the Cairnmillar Institute that attracted his attention; this resulted in the young family relocating to Melbourne. A feature of the institute’s early days was its focus on.
