Innovative Stratford psychologist remembered as generous and ahead of his time

Friends, former colleagues and fellow gardeners are mourning the recent loss of retired Stratford psychologist and Beacon Herald columnist Doug Reberg after he died peacefully in hospice Aug. 12 following a brief illness.

A native of Flint, Mich., Reberg moved to Canada in 1967 to complete his doctorate at McMaster University, after which he taught as an assistant professor in psychology at Western University. In 1980, he took a job in Stratford as the psychologist at the Huron Perth Center for Children and Youth, a communit-based children’s mental-health center with offices in Stratford, Clinton and Listowel.

“Doug joined the center early in his career and during the centre’s formative years after it opened in 1977,” former Huron Perth Center CEO Terri Sparling told the Beacon Herald. “His contributions were many and always centered on the needs of his clients and the trends in child and youth mental health. … Doug will be remembered by clients, colleagues and community partners as a warm, caring professional who practiced with integrity and respect for all with whom he encountered. It was a privilege to call him my colleague and friend.”

According to Sparling, Reberg realized early on that many of the Huron Perth Centre’s clients were being affected by violence in the home, either in the form of child abuse or as child witnesses to domestic abuse. This led him to create a program for male perpetrators of domestic violence, Group Delta, and a support group for their partners, the Renascence Program, while he also served as a member of community networks focused on preventing domestic violence.

As the only psychologist at the centre, Reberg also developed a strong quality improvement committee that laid the foundation for the centre’s ongoing commitment to continuous improvement and accreditation.

“He basically started our quality improvement committee with our previous director, Don Keiller, and then Doug reached out to me at that time early in my career, just as I was getting started to see if I might be interested in learning more about and contributing to our quality improvement work,” said current Huron Perth Center CEO Dana Bozzato, who worked at the center as a mental-health counselor after she graduated.

“He provided leadership for the committee and then actually mentored me and supported me to the (committee) leadership position. … (Doug) was just a very kind, gentle, thoughtful guy. He had a great sense of humor and was very team oriented. He placed very significant value on the work of the agency and how we worked as a team collaboratively together. … He was dedicated to his colleagues and willing to go above and beyond to support us in our own professional development.”

In addition to developing programs aimed at addressing domestic violence, Bozzato said Reberg also worked to develop programs for youth with sexual-behavior issues, something she says was groundbreaking at the time thanks to the pioneering efforts of the Children’s Aid Society and Child and Parent Resource Institute in London.

“Doug was connected to the psychologist at (the institute), so he then connected that group with the center and me. … He just made opportunities happen for me to grow and learn professionally and clinically in service to youth who were getting into some challenges.”

Reberg also contributed to his profession outside of his work at the Huron Perth Center as chair of the ethics and policy committee of the Ontario Psychological Association, the professional ethics columnist for the association’s newsletter, and a member of both the Canadian and American psychological associations and the College of Psychologists of Ontario.

“Doug had an interest in ethics. It was not his main focus in psychology, but he had a deep interest in ethics,” said Carole Sinclair, who worked with Reberg on the ethics and policy committee, as well as on the jurisprudence and ethics examination committee with the College of Psychologists of Ontario.

“He was writing about ethics before there was a lot of attention on it, and he helped the whole process along tremendously. … He was trying to get people to think about ethical principles, what the ideals are of the psychology profession, what the values ​​are and how to think through ethical problems because you can have rules and they’re very helpful, but they don’t cover every situation. … Doug was a very decent person and he was gentle and he was always there and willing to help. I just enjoyed the conversations we had about all of this and trying to solve these ethical problems and do the best work we could in that area.”

After Reberg retired in 2001, he turned his attention toward his other passions, which included music – specifically jazz and opera – birdwatching and gardening. Many readers of the Beacon Herald knew Reberg from his monthly gardening column, which he continued writing until June, and he was an active member of Stratford’s horticultural society, Garden Stratford.

According to fellow society member Dorothy Van Esbroeck, Reberg was actively involved in bringing gardening experts in to speak to member and helped establish a website showcasing gardens around Stratford. He also served as greeter at meetings, as well as the society’s annual plant sale and garden tour, and enjoyed sharing his passion for gardening and speaking with others about their gardens whenever he had the chance.

“He had the ability to bring people together and to diffuse arguments,” added Maureen Cocksedge, another member of Garden Stratford. “He was like glue. … He wouldn’t say much but when he did, he would be able to articulate both sides of an issue and bring forward solutions. He was just such a lovely man – a calm and rational voice. He was kind to everyone. … Everybody related well to him.”

Reberg also served on the plant-rescue committe, a group of Garden Stratford members who would preserve specific plants when homeowners had to move or gardens were to be dug up during construction, and was instrumental in helping to secure grant funding for the Stratford Public Library’s new garden.

Doug is predeceased by his wife, Bonnie Reberg, who died in 2008.

A celebration of Doug’s life will take place at the WG Young Funeral Home Reception Center at 430 Huron St., Stratford, on Sept. 23 from 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm with words of remembrance at 3 pm In lieu of flowers, Memorial donations can be made to Optimism Place Women’s Shelter and Support Services (Perth County Transition Home for Women), Life Water Canada, or a charity of your choice through the funeral home.

For more information, visit www.wgyoungfuneralhome.com/obituaries/Douglas-Charles-Reberg.

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