Our History
When Stan Dale walked into a workshop room a ripple passed through, a turning of heads and a sparkle of expectation. He saw people’s hearts—he saw their innate innocence laced with unknown wisdom—and that knowing had him stand in himself in an amazingly robust way.
HAI’s history in inextricably interwoven with Stan’s. We share here some of the pivotal chapters of his life, which prompted him to found HAI.
Stan started as a radio man. He was a popular DJ (Stan the Record Man) in Chicago, and was the voice of radio programs such as The Shadow and The Lone Ranger.
When Stan was in his twenties, he was drafted into the US army during the Korean War and for a time was stationed in Japan. While in Japan Stan had a life-changing experience of being treated with reverence and a kind of profound honoring unlike anything he had ever known. He came away thinking, why don’t we all treat one another like this?
After returning to Chicago, Stan became interested in psychology and went back to school and earned his degree. He then merged his interests in radio and psychology by initiating the first psychologically-oriented talk show during the 1960s.
The radio station told Stan that he could talk about anything but sex. Of course, Stan knew that sexuality is an integral part of a person’s life, and he couldn’t reconcile leaving out this critical aspect of our humanity. So he decided to offer a workshop on sexuality. These early workshops in Chicago started out as lectures, but they quickly evolved to be highly interactive and experiential while maintaining the reverence he learned in Japan.
In the late 1970s, Stan moved the workshops to California. The intern program began for those who wished to learn to do what Stan was doing. The program quickly evolved into our current Team program of supporting the participants through the workshops.
Stan’s invited people to look within; he delighted in holding up a mirror to a person—so that they really could see themselves in the moment. He would challenge people in their stuck places and soothe them in their running away places. He was a big voice with big ideas, he laughed readily, cried easily and loved people so much that he would try anything to assist them in seeing what he felt was possible.
Through the 1980s, the workshops expanded tremendously. Stan trained several facilitators, some of whom are still leading workshops today. Over the years, HAI began producing workshops in Michigan, Massachusetts, Southern California, the UK, Germany, Japan, Australia, and Ontario, Canada.
Stan died in 2007. Any time a founder of an organization dies it’s a watershed moment regarding that organization’s direction, and even survival. Fortunately, Stan had trained a powerful cadre of facilitators to carry on the work. Around the time of his death the organization became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a new name – HAI Global.
In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced HAI to discontinue in-person workshops, our online workshops were created. We now have three online programs that enable people to gather no matter where they are in the world.
Today, HAI has vibrant communities across North America, Europe and Australia. Our work to bring love and understanding to a world that is aching for it keeps us very active and motivated. Imagine, if you will, a world of love and acceptance. This is HAI’s mission.
