I was introduced to the world of Balint training in the early 1970s by Dr Stanley Levenstein, who together with Dr Frank Dornfest participated in a Balint group in Cape Town, South Africa. Stanley sent me transcripts of each seminar and the process intrigued me, but I was much too wedded to the biomedical model to value the work. In the mid-1970s, Stanley, my sister, and family came to Durban on holiday and stayed with my wife, Phillipa, and me. After dinner one evening, I was in discussion with Stanley and a good friend and colleague Dr Jeff Kallmeyer. Jeff, a nephrologist, commented that I was a good general practitioner (GP), to which Stanley responded "and how would you know?" This was my "AHA" moment! It began to dawn on me that the discipline of General Practice includes more than the scope of care; it also involves a patient-centered clinical method informed by an understanding of the doctor-patient relationship. Soon after that, I met with fellow GPs to discuss the formation of our own Balint group in Durban. There was enough enthusiasm for me to approach Dr Ralph Gilmer, a practicing psychoanalyst with prior GP experience, to run our group. We met once a month, in Ralph's office, to present troubling cases from our practices. Ralph was assisted by Dr Jane Eyre, a practicing GP, who had herself been in a Balint group in the United Kingdom. Our group functioned with enthusiasm and continued after I immigrated to the United States in 1981.