User:KSRolph/Mary Canedy Burt

Mary Canedy Burt (June 28, 1909 to September 12, 2002)
Mary Burt was best known for her work in early childhood development pioneer in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her career spanned decades beginning in the 1920's when she worked for the Work's Progress Administration (WPA - later renamed the Works Project Administration). She was located near Marysville where she worked with arriving families who'd migrated west, leaving homes in Dust Bowl-stricken Oklahoma and Nebraska. One of her first assignments was teaching migrants to make mattresses stuffed with straw. Observing parents and children together in an environment where people owned little more than the clothes on their backs, was to have an impact on Burt's future work with autism, disturbed children, and savants.

Miss Burt lived in San Francisco most of her life, though she lived in New York City's Greenwich Village for several years. She graduated from New York University's Steinhardt Master's Program in Art Therapy in 1962.

Ms. Burt co-founded the Burt Children's Center in San Francisco, a residential treatment center for troubled children that specialized in regression therapy using pink, womb-like rooms.(citation needed) Ms. Burt firmly believed in regression for some children (and adults). Rebirthing therapy - pink room - spongy non-quadratic - the therapist would say gonna give you a bath and your going to be born again. Diapers and baby bottle this is gonna be baby time and re-parent child. Humanist

In honor of Ms. Burt's work in the community, Mayor Willie Brown declared her 90th birthday, June 28, 1999, as "Mary Burt Day" in San Francisco.

Autism specialization in her San Francisco facility, started with one child not deficient, he was savant, he was the second and only who married, had a normal life, and family of his own. Big name law firm, Mary Ann - seed funding to Burt Center.

A pioneer in early childhood education and art therapy in 1969 she co-founded Burt Children's Center a residential treatment center for severely emotionally disturbed children.

Early Life
Ms. Burt was born in Grinnell Iowa, the youngest of four children. Her mother, Mabel Burt, left her husband and headed to California with her children when Mary was very young. Mary never knew her father, according to her, she had only one early memory of him, as he put her out of the house in the snow with not enough clothing for the weather when she was a toddler.

As a youngster, the family lived in Chico, California where her mother studied to become a schoolteacher. A few years later, Burt's mother purchased a home in San Francisco. Burt attended Mission High School in San Francisco, before going on to college.

Becoming part of San Francisco bohemian circles in her youth, Burt gravitated toward lesbian and gay communities. In her circle were Cornish School graduates, musicians and artists, including dancer and choreographer, Merce Cunningham; Mary would join friends and go see his late-in-life performances at U.C. Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall. Other friends tended to be artisans and intellectuals, and those committed to social work, child therapies, and social sciences.

Burt Therapeutic Methods and Theory
In over sixty years spent working with troubled children, Ms. Burt was never attacked by sometimes assaultive children. These children did sometimes attack interns and counselors, which made working at Burt Center challenging for students. Most students and interns eagerly tried to imitate Ms. Burt's working style. No therapist who worked with Ms. Burt was a more kindred spirit than the cosmopolitan Mariam Jafarty, a licensed clinical psychologist; the two worked together for many years at Burt Center. Their professional relationship was so close and they shared such affinity, that Burt Center managers objected, in spite of the remarkable successes the clinical colleagues oversaw

Ms. Burt considered herself a Freudian most fundamentally, though she differed with his views on topics like penis envy. She also held that gender differences start very early, with hormonal differences in boys and girls, that appear in behavior and thinking patterns in childhood. She admired the work of Bettelheim, who sent her cases he was unable to handle. Burt was shocked by his suicide in ??.

Ms. Burt used a variation on narrative therapy with the kids. She would get them to tell her a third person story which would be indicate of their experiences, usually traumatic. Burt Children's Center closed a couple years after Burt's death.

Personal Life
Mary mentored many females in the mental health and social science professions. Among her proteges, was R. Ruth Linden, a holocaust and medical sociology scholar. Another was Karen Sue Rolph, a protege who became an anthropologist.

Ms. Burt had been a traumatized child and learned to keep a low profile about being LGBT from an early age. In spite of her broad and successful career, she remained a reserved and understated person all her life. At a time when the idea was deeply disturbing in mainstream society, Ms. Burt cross-dressed, along with her sister, as they traveled throughout California together in their youths.

Ms. Burt never retired and continued to work until a few months before her death at ninety three.

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Mary Burt -- pioneer therapist for children, program co-founder September 18, 2002|Suzanne Herel, Chronicle Staff Writer

Mary Canedy Burt of San Francisco, who pioneered an acclaimed method of psychotherapy to treat autistic and traumatized children, died Thursday at UCSF Medical Center.

Ms. Burt co-founded the Burt Children's Center in San Francisco, a residential facility for troubled children that specializes in regression therapy using pink, womb-like rooms.

She never retired, continuing to head the center until the end of life.

In honor of Ms. Burt's work in the community, Mayor Willie Brown declared her 90th birthday, June 28, 1999, as "Mary Burt Day" in San Francisco.

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A lifelong feminist, Ms. Burt nurtured several proteges. Among them, Dr. Ruth R. Linden, went on to explore feminist Holocaust narratives. A medical sociologist, Linden became prominent in access and justice in medical care.

Linden, R. Ruth, 1993  Making stories, making selves: feminist reflections on the Holocaust. Columbus: Ohio State University Press. From the very beginning, Mary Canedy Burt believed in the importance of this project. For more than a decade her generous friendship has been a source of inspiration and sustenance.

https://kb.osu.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/1811/32519/MAKING_STORIES_MAKING_SELVES.pdf

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Employment History

Burt Children's Center

Board Memberships and Affiliations

Founder Burt Children's Center

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WORK IN PROGRESS - KSRolph (talk) 03:36, 5 December 2011 (UTC)