Anna Willman
Anna Willman earned a BA degree from Wellesley College, a Master’s of International Studies (MIS) from Claremont Graduate School and a Master’s degree (MPhil) in Comparative Politics from Columbia University. She was a Fulbright Scholar in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, in 1971 and 1972.
Director of the Confidence Clinic for fourteen of the eighteen years she worked there, Ms. Willman’s introduction of Focusing to the women at the Clinic has caused her to become internationally known within the Focusing world as a pioneer in community wellness Focusing.
Her own perception, however, is that her expertise is based on her understanding that she is not an expert in anything other than her own life.
She came to the world of social work after a life of political and community activism that meshed nicely with the spirit of the Confidence Clinic founders. While still a college student, she attended speeches and was inspired by both Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, marched on the Pentagon, participated in lunch counter sit-ins on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, stood at the foot of the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC when King made his “I had a Dream” speech, and organized a peace committee on her college campus.
Later on she did many stints on a bullhorn in the Lower East Side of New York City, protesting police brutality and discrimination in hiring at construction sites. She helped distressed tenants organize rent strikes and participated in sit-ins in government offices.
A single parent, Ms. Willman’s early career was varied. She was a research assistant, a secretary, a home care aide, a library assistant, and a letter carrier for the US Postal Service. She served as Director of a community-based housing organization in the Lower East Side of New York, and was an instructor of history at a small black college in Virginia.
Her community involvement took a more conventional turn when she moved to Oregon in 1989. She served as the President of Oregon Women Work!, a statewide network of single parent/displaced homemaker programs, and as Chair of the Oregon State Commission for Women. Locally, within Douglas County, she served on the board of Project Literacy, as President of the League of Women Voters, and as Chair of the Douglas County Regional Gender Equity Team.
All of these experiences supported her work at the Confidence Clinic and served to enrich her perspective on the lessons to be derived from that experience.
website: www.vawillman.webs.com