The Theorist

THE MAN BEHIND IT ALL 

Phil Barker is the man behind the Tidal Model Theory. His nursing career began over thirty years ago. To sustain himself, he started out as a nursing assistant and eventually became one of the UK's first nurse psychotherapists, one of UK's nurse clinicians to gain a PhD and the first professor of psychiatric nursing practice, at Newcastle University. Given an honorary doctorate at the Oxford Brookes University in 2001, he has long been both a distinctive and controversial figure in nursing. Collaboratively, he authored 14 books - one of which was about the Tidal Model, which was developed from a 5-year study of the need for psychiatric nursing undertaken at the University of Newcastle, UK. Such model was eventually adopted by mental health nurses in numerous countries. In 2002, he decided to give up his post at Newcastle to concentrate on writing, lecturing, and not to mention, returning to his first love, painting. 

Barker is well-known, aside from his intelligence of course, for his long beard, red clogs and great personality. To get to know the man better, here is an excerpt from one of his interviews dated 2002, with Chris Hart:

C. Hart: What have you most enjoyed in your career? 

P. Barker: Learning from people called patients. It sounds corny but people are such a fabulous mystery - to themselves as well as others. Dirk Bogarde once said that some people just want a clock to tell them the time; others want to take the back off, and see what makes it tick. I am definitely the latter. Being paid to do that is, of course, a huge bonus. 

C. Hart: What are your plans for the future? 

P. Barker: I spend just about every hour of the day with my wife, Poppy, as we live and work together. After almost 40 years together, we still find the need to talk, talk, talk. I would like to die in her arms. But not just yet.

Isn't it nice to know that a theorist like him manages to stay grounded and be humorous, at that! Did that Dirk Bogarde statement appeal to you? Would you belong to the former or the latter? 

And as how the cliche goes, behind the success of every man, is a woman-- Phil has Poppy in his life. And Poppy had her own contributions to the Tidal Model, as well.

To learn more about Phil and Poppy Barker's life, click here: The Duo

References: 

Brookes N (2006) "Phil Barker: Tidal Model of Mental Health Recovery" Ch 32 in AM Tomey and MR Alligood (Eds) Nursing Theorists and Their Work (6th Edition)St Louis, MI: Mosby Elsevier

 http://www.tidal-model.com/New%20Interview%20with%20Phil%20Barker.htm