Last month, Maurizio Coletti, a psychiatrist and systemic therapist, passed away. Until 2022, he was the President and Director of IEFCOS, the European Institute of Systemic Training and Counselling in Rome, of which he was a founding member together with Luigi Cancrini and Luigi Onnis.
Maurizio was a great friend of mine, not only a colleague. I met him in the early 1990s, when we were both working in the field of substance addiction. Maurizio was already one of the most acknowledged experts in the field, not only in Italy and Europe, but also in South America, where he used to teach. He was active in the substance addiction treatment field since the beginning of his career as a psychiatrist and psychotherapist during 1970s. At that time in Rome, together with others, he ran an out-patient clinic located in the city centre, in Piazza Navona, open to anyone presenting an addiction problem, in a time when there were very few specialised services. He was also active in community psychiatry, strongly believing in the social origins of psychiatric disorders.
He was always politically active, combining his therapeutic profession with political and social commitment. Trained by Salvador Minuchin and other masters of systemic therapy, he, in turn, became a teacher and supervisor, fascinating students and colleagues with his wisdom, intelligence, knowledge, and keen sense of humour. In the mid-1990s, he involved me in one of his most beloved projects: he was one of the founders of ITACA, the European Network of Professionals in the Field of Addiction, and he asked me to join the Board. He was president from the late 1990s until around 2015, when a lack of financial support prevented the project from continuing. Maurizio encouraged me to found, together with other colleagues, the Greek section of ITACA, which was successfully launched in 1997. ITACA Greece (current president Domna Tsaklakidou) has since been involved in joint European projects, such as the visits of professionals to addiction services of other European countries, the participation in European programmes such as COST-A6 and ADAT, and the organisation of conferences, workshops and seminars, both international and national, many of which have seen the active participation of Maurizio, who always loved visiting Athens.
Another area of commitment for Maurizio was EFTA, of which he was a member since its inception and, in particular, as a former member of the EFTA CIM Board, and the Relates Network (Red Europea y Latinoamericana de Escuelas Sistémicas), where he was invited as a keynote speaker. Spreading and teaching systemic therapy, particularly within the public sector, was one of his missions. He was convinced of its effectiveness and adaptability to various social and cultural contexts. In recent years, he had devised a tool for working with couples based on the genogram, which he called the Mobile Genogram (©, see article in this Journal at https://hestafta.org/en/journal/systemic-thinking-psychotherapy/issue/12/from-couples-to-the-family-of-origin-mobile-genogram-for-couples-genogramma-mobile-per-coppie-gmc-an-exploratory-and-therapeutic-method), for which he had written a user manual. Unfortunately, his health prevented him from travelling to Athens once more to teach us how to use it.
During the pandemic, he interviewed me on the topic of the systemic approach and family therapy with patients diagnosed with psychosis, which can be viewed on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7OjkXa4Tf8). I considered this proposal an honour and a recognition of my work, for which I am grateful to him. Maurizio leaves a great void, and I will remember him with great affection and gratitude for the journey we took together, for the paths he opened up for me, and for our friendship.
Ciao Maurizio.
