ABSTRACT
In the heart of the Norwegian Family Therapy Association (NFFT), which is at Markveien 23 in Oslo, gathered together at the penthouse flat of Pal Abrahamsen are Kirsti Haaland, Hans Christian Michaelsen, and Pal, looking for the best words to describe Tom Andersen. Words are bricks. They can be used for building walls or building bridges. A bridge-builder across huge distances in time, space, and ideas with tools from language and emotions, Tom himself is also a builder in wood and stone. Tom is a collector of words that come by in conversations, putting them into his box, looking at them to see what they are. Tom was always very much supporting ideas and practice coming from innovative people, regardless of their background and formal training. The marriage between the NFFT and Tom is a strong one and seemingly never ending. He meets colleagues interested in development in the field of therapy based upon relational and context-oriented therapy.
