Just before Christmas, the Collaborative Practice community lost a great
friend with the passing of Cormac Lankford. I asked our Irish friends to
please say a few words about him that I could post on the listserve. These
events are important to our community to keep us whole and connected.
Kindly, Anne O-Niell has offered the following:
Cormac Lankford , Educational psychologist, counsellor and collaborative
mental health professional died in Cork, Ireland just before Christmas. I
was privileged to call Cormac my friend as well as a collaborative
colleague.
Cormac embraced the idea of collaboration with a passion. I first mentioned
it to him shortly after we had commenced collaborative practice in Ireland
and before we had any idea really of what a divorce coach was or how they
worked. We just knew that there was something more that we, lawyers, needed
besides ourselves. He was the first mental health professional to dive in
to the fray so to speak. We can truly say that he was a pioneer. He took
it to his heart and his head even before he fully understood it himself as
we all did to a greater or lesser degree. Cormac travelled to Vienna for
the first European Conference. His last professional engagement was the
workshop he co- presented in Toronto with Patricia Mallon, Chairperson, ACP,
Ireland. Many of you would have seen or met him also at the 2nd European
Collaborative Conference in Cork where he attended the party in Patricia
Mallon¹s house. He was scheduled to take part in Susan Gamache¹s
presentation on Interdisciplinary Collaborative Practice but his health
would not allow and so his wife, Breda O¹Carroll bravely jumped into the
role of the child specialist in that presentation. Cormac did, however,
attend in Fota for that presentation.
We remember Cormac as a man of great energy, humour, intelligence and
courage. He gave us gravitas and wings at the same time, a rare gift. He
will be sorely missed by the collaborative community in Cork and the wider
Irish community. His contribution was too short but it was pivotal. He has
a secure place in our history and is forever in our hearts.
To his widow, Breda and his family we offer our deepest condolences.
Anne O¹Neill, Secretary, ACP, Ireland.
