This follows on from the sample reformulation letter and concludes that fictional therapy.
The following goodbye letter is a fictional one, which makes a fond reference to the Wallace and Gromit adventure “The Wrong Trousers”. This is intended to be light and humorous, and clearly does not make reference to a real therapy. We hope that it does not give the impression that we are trivialising therapy, which is certainly not our intention. This letter, and the reformulation letter that preceded it, have been written to make some points that commonly arise in therapy but at the same time no single example can represent all aspects of therapy.
Dear Gromit,
We have now come to the end of our 16 session journey together, and it is time to say goodbye.
I must say that I have rarely come across such a dramatic ending to a therapy before, or rather such a dramatic event in the middle of a therapy which has led to a shift or exit. Just as you were about to leave Wallace forever, having done a lot of painful soul-searching, Penguin conducted his jewel heist and you and Wallace escaped his clutches, joined forces and captured him, thus discovering that he was in fact, Feathers the infamous thief. Fortuitously, the reward money solved Wallace’s financial worries, at least for now, and you got your room back.
You could have still left, Gromit. But instead, after even more soul searching, you realised that you and Wallace together form the family that you thought you had never had. You know that Wallace can be stupid at times, and humans are certainly flawed in all kinds of ways. Wallace demonstrated all of these things during the events of the last few months. But it seems to me that following all of this, you have undergone a bit of an internal emotional shift, realising that you are actually ‘top dog’ in the relationship, and that has given you a self-assurance and confidence that although not entirely lacking before, has been reinforced by these recent events and now has a slightly different quality. However, I also acknowledge that you won’t agree with what I have just written and would indeed chastise me for suggesting you are ‘top dog’ as that goes against your canine culture! I guess I must apologise once again for finding it difficult not to think of you as human. But, of course, I still think I’m right (we humans can be stubborn) and it would feel incomplete for me not to say in writing what for me has seemed to be a major shift in you.
You have faced your painful dilemma with a lot of courage, and decided in the end that you cannot deny either pole of that dilemma (human or dog) in yourself, and you have chosen to live as much as you can in the middle, acknowledging both canine and human aspects of you. And, I hope, revelling in both. As we have discussed, there will inevitably be times when this dual-life will be painful, but also likely to be times which are joyous and about as wonderfully unusual as life can get.
I wish you well Gromit, with all of your life choices and hope that you do get to have puppies one day. They will be very lucky puppies, I think. I will miss you and have really enjoyed working with you.
With warmest wishes,
Jane