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Tuesday, February 9

Position Vacant: Secretary/Administrative Support/Transcriptionist
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Tue 09 Feb 2010 07:11 PM GMT
Secretarial/Administrative
Support/Transcriptionist
Job
Type: Part-time
Location: Toddington,
Gloucestershire
Salary: £20k over 18 months (c. £10
p/h equivalent)
Start Date: April
Duration: 18 months
This is an
exciting opportunity for an
experienced secretary/administrator with audio transcription skills
to join a nationally important project supported by the Heritage
Lottery Fund, exploring and sharing an important area of the nation's
history and heritage.
“Therapeutic
Living With Other
People's Children: An oral history of residential therapeutic child
care c. 1930 – c.1980” is an ambitious project of discovery
related to schools, homes and environments for children and young
people during a period of dynamic change in residential therapeutic
child care. It is based at the Planned Environment Therapy Trust in
Toddington, Gloucestershire, in its Archive and Study Centre, which
is internationally unique in being devoted to this area of the
heritage. The Planned Environment Therapy Trust is a Registered
Charity, No. 248633.
As part of a
small and flexible team,
you will support the Project Director, archivist and oral historian
with your personal, administrative, secretarial and transcription
skills, and liaise with the Trust's Financial Officer on budgetary
matters. Up to 50% of your time will be available for transcribing
newly recorded interviews. You will have opportunities to work with
volunteers, take part in Project events, and develop new skills in
Internet tools and management.
As you will see and handle confidential
material, and because of the nature of the project, an enhanced CRB
check will be required for the successful applicant (paid for by the
Project!)..
For further information, and to
download the application materials, please see the Project's website
at http://www.otherpeopleschildren.org.uk..
For an informal discussion, or for a
hard copy application form, please contact Dr. Craig Fees, Project
Director, on 01242 620125 or by
email.
The closing date for applications is
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010.
Interviews will take place on Tuesday,
March 9th, 2010.
Wednesday, February 3

Positions Vacant
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Wed 03 Feb 2010 08:13 AM GMT

The Planned
Environment Therapy Trust,with the support of a
grant from the Heritage Lottery
Fund"Therapeutic Living With Other
People's Children: an oral history of residential therapeutic child
care c. 1930 - c. 1980"Two new 18-month, full-time
positionsOral History Officer£24,000 - £26,000
18
month fixed contract
An exciting
opportunity for an experienced oral historian to join a small team
exploring an important area of the nation's history and heritage:
Schools, homes and environments for children and young people during a
period of dynamic change in residential therapeutic child care. You
will be recording and working with former children, staff and others,
learning from them and exploring ways to facilitate their discovery and
sharing of the history and experience of the schools and communities to
which they belonged. You will have the opportunity to introduce others
to oral history recording and practice, to work with students and
volunteers, and to contribute to theatrical performances based on the
stories and memories you help to record. And
more.
Project
Archivist£24,000 - £26,000
18 month fixed
contract
An exciting opportunity for a
qualified archivist to join a small team exploring an important area of
the nation's history and heritage: Schools, homes and environments for
children and young people during a period of dynamic change in
residential therapeutic child care. You will be gathering, cataloguing,
and working with some of the subjects of the archives, learning what
they can teach us about the archival record, and exploring ways to
facilitate their discovery and sharing of the schools and communities
to which they belonged. You will have the opportunity to introduce
others to archival practice, to work with students and volunteers, and
to contribute to theatrical performances based on the materials in your
care. And more.
For an
informal discussion of either post, and for a hard copy application
form, please contact Dr. Craig Fees, Project Director, on 01242 620125
or by
email.
For further information
about the project and the post, and to download the application
materials, please see the project website at http://www.otherpeopleschildren.org.uk.
Closing date for applications: Monday, March 1st,
2010. Interviews on Monday,
March 8th,
2010.
An enhanced CRB check will be
required of the successful
applicants.
Tuesday, January 12

HLF Grant application successful
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Tue 12 Jan 2010 10:31 AM GMT
Heritage Lottery Fund grant application successfulThe Planned Environment Therapy Trust's Heritage Grant application has successfully passed the second round. "Therapeutic Living with Other People's Children: an oral history of residential therapeutic child care c. 1930 - c. 1980" is a two year project which aims to collect over 130 new oral history recordings, while building an unparalleled online resource of information about this unique and significant area of the nation's heritage and history, and developing live performance and other communication tools to share the experience more widely. For futher information see the project website at www.otherpeopleschildren.org.uk .
Monday, November 23

Living Learning Experiences: Residential Courses in Therapeutic Childcare
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Mon 23 Nov 2009 10:18 AM GMT
The Planned Environment Therapy Trust withThe Mulberry Bush TrainingTWO RESIDENTIAL COURSES IN THERAPEUTIC CHILDCARE Managing a Living Learning Experience - A residential course for managers and senior workers -
Creating a Living Learning Experience - A residential course for care workers -
THROUGH 2010
Background These two courses aim to introduce the principles of working in therapeutic childcare management and practice. Both courses rely on understanding disordered attachment and early childhood damage to make sense of distressed behaviour in children and young people and its impact on staff. Participants will be encouraged to make use of their own feeling responses as a tool for staff management, treatment and nurturing care. The relevance of approaches based on social pedagogy will also be explored. Managing A Living Learning Experience: Course for Managers and Senior Workers Having an understanding of the emotional impact on workers will aid managers and senior workers to encourage a more resilient and effective staff team able to work alongside children and young people with more confidence and less stress.
Creating A Living Learning Experience: Course for Care Workers Workers will discover that seeking to understand behaviour through their own emotional responses will give them the tools to work alongside children and young people with more confidence and less stress.
Working Method The working method will reflect daily practice in therapeutic communities by using psychodynamic and group-analytic approaches for understanding behaviour. It will offer a programme of practice discussions and reflective workshops as well as facilitated self-experience reflective groups. In all these sessions participants will have the opportunity to make connections between their personal life experiences, their practice experience and theoretical learning. Each workshop builds on the previous one, each course is to be embarked on as a whole.
Who these courses are for One course is for Managers and Senior Workers, the other for Care Workers. Both will be of benefit to people who would like to develop their capacity to work with their own feeling responses with an interest and/or experience in working with emotionally troubled children and young people in any setting. They are likely to come from fields such as residential or day-care, specialist social work (adoption, fostering, disability), mental health, or education. Groups will be about 14 participants. We can accept a maximum of 2 bookings from any work organisation for each course.
Workshop Staff John Diamond is CEO of the Mulberry Bush Organisation. He has worked in the field of therapeutic child care for many years and has advised government about child care practice.
Teresa von Sommaruga Howard is a group-analytic psychotherapist, an architect and an organisational consultant. She conducted the experiential group on the Reading University MA in Therapeutic Child Care.
Deborah Best is an independent trainer in therapeutic child care, and has taught on courses from Diploma level (Lioncare, Brighton) to MA (Reading University, Carlow College, the Tavistock & Portman) with many years’ experience of SEBD education.
Dave Roberts is Head of Training and Consultancy at the Mulberry Bush Organisation and Programme Leader for the Foundation Degree in Therapeutic Work with Children and Young People validated by the University of the West of England.
Dr. Linnet McMahon is a play therapist and was course leader of the Reading University MA in Therapeutic Child Care
Course Dates For Managers and Senior Workers: 2-4 March; 10-11 June; 22-23 September For Workers: 11-13 May; 15-16 July; 23-24 September.
Venue and Cost The Workshops will be held at The Study Centre, PETT, Toddington, near Cheltenham, Glos. GL54 5DQ. The Centre offers good food with comfortable single or shared rooms. The fee for each course, including all meals and accommodation will be £1150.00. Payment may be divided as follows: £450.00 for first workshop and £350.00 for each of the following two workshops. Further information, including travel details, will be sent out no later than a week in advance of the first workshop.
Bookings To reserve a place, please click here for the booking form. Complete and return with a non-refundable deposit of £100.00 to Joanna Jansen, Planned Environment Therapy Trust, Church Lane, Toddington, Cheltenham, GLOS. GL54 5DQ, United Kingdom Tel: + 44 (0) 1242 621200 Email: joanna@pettrust.org.uk For a copy of the full course flyer, please click here.
Sunday, November 15

"I knew him, Horatio..."
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Sun 15 Nov 2009 08:40 PM GMT

"Psychoanalytic Methodology in Clinical and Non-Clinical Settings"In the photograph above, Planned Environment Therapy Trust Trustee Dr. R.D. Hinshelwood shares a moment with Sigmund Freud, a gift from friends and colleagues to mark his retirement. It was presented at the end of "Psychoanalytic Methodology in Clinical and Non-Clinical Settings", a conference organised by the Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies and the Department of Sociology at the University of Essex on Friday, November 14, to celebrate his career and the immense contribution he has made to the practice, theory, history, and understanding of psychoanalysis and group dynamics.
Wednesday, September 9

Accession 2009.036
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Wed 09 Sep 2009 01:41 PM BST
Accession 2009.036
Book: Social Control in the Therapeutic Community - Victor Sharp, 1975

Accession 2009.035
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Wed 09 Sep 2009 01:33 PM BST
Accession 2009.035
The Forgotten Children - David Hill
"Here for the first time, is the story of the Fairbridge children, from the bizarre luxury of the voyage out to Australia to the harsh reality of the first days there, from the physical and sexual abuse and inedible food to the loneliness and appalling standard of education. This acclaimed book is a remarkable tribute to the children who were betrayed by an ideal that went terribly awry."

Accession 2009.034
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Wed 09 Sep 2009 01:27 PM BST
Accession 2009.034
Book: The Sixties - Jenny Diski, 2009
An incisive look at the radical beliefs to which her generation subscribed.

Accession 2009.033
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Wed 09 Sep 2009 10:06 AM BST
New Accession 2009.033
Educational Heretic Press
One book: The Face of Home Based Education 2 One supplement: Educational Heretics Press - Books in Print 2008
(Accessioned by Rachael Thompson)

Accession 2009-032
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Wed 09 Sep 2009 10:06 AM BST
New Accession 2009.032David Lane The SCA 60th Anniversary Booklet, 2009  (Accessioned by Rachael Thompson)

Accession 2009-031
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Wed 09 Sep 2009 10:05 AM BST
New Accession 2009.031
Rowdy Yates
One CD - 'Song for John'

Accession 2009.030
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Wed 09 Sep 2009 10:05 AM BST
New Accession 2009.030The Television Playwright, 1960 Contains ten plays by ten authors: Sammy by Ken hughes The Small Victory by Iain MacCormick Air Mail From Cyprus by Willis Hall Mrs. Wickens in the Fall by Nigel Kneale Flight of the Dove by Donald Wilson The Amorous Goldfish by Michael Voysey Thirty Pieces of Silver by Leo Lehman You're a Long Time Dead by Elaine Morgan Call Me a Liar by John Mortimer The Unloved by Colin Morris
(Accessioned by Rachael Thompson) [Craig's comment: Why have we acquired this book? "The Unloved" was filmed in, and based on, Red Hill School - called "Red Mill School" in the play. The head was based on Otto Shaw. So, an extraordinary moment in the history of therapeutic community and its dance with the media]

Accession 2009.029
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Wed 09 Sep 2009 10:05 AM BST
New Accession - 2009.029 David Millard A collection of 17 Newsletters from the Association of Theaoeutic Communities and 3 from the Association of Teachers in Social Work Education, and an itinery of the 80th birthday of Dr. Isabel Menzies Lyth who was a psychoanalyst and social scientist. Also various reports and journals, a small selection is listed below: Social workers and healthcare in hospitals, 1988 A representative pyschiatrist, 1986 Collaboration between health and social services, 1976 Human growth and behaviour, 1967 Changing housing benefit: who gains and who loses, 1989
And a book - Who's the patient here? Portraits of the young psychotherapist, 1978 - I quite liked this one!   (Acessioned by Rachael Thompson)

Accession 2009.028
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Wed 09 Sep 2009 10:03 AM BST
New Accession 2009.028
Mark Twinberrow
Photos of Bodenham Manor, C1958-2009
(Accessioned by Rachel Thompson)

Accession 2009-027
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Wed 09 Sep 2009 10:01 AM BST
Nick
Jones
Accession 2009-027Next,
there is a collection from Nick Jones, son of Howard Jones a British
Sociologist (pictured).
The
collections consists of newspaper clippings containing reference to
Howard Jones, below is one I particularly liked as it shows he could
accept criticism as well as acclaim. 
There
are also three books, The Informed Conscience:In Search of Social
Welfare - 30th April 1971, Crime Race and Culture: A Study
in a Developing Country – 1981 and Social Welfare in Third World
Development – 1990.
Finally,
a selection of ten photos and an album entitled 'Snaps from schools
for maladjusted children at which he had worked'.

This
rather sweet picture was taken and developed by a young lad who had
spent 10 years in hospital. 
Possibly Howard's dog, possibly called Scruff and a member of the staff!
. . . and so below is the staff photo.
Accessioned by Rachael Thompson

Accession 2009.026
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Wed 09 Sep 2009 10:01 AM BST
Accession 2009.026
Jan Lees
28 Boxes of research and other materials.

Accession 2009.025
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Wed 09 Sep 2009 10:01 AM BST
Accession 2009.025Teresa Howard Journals: Family Therapy Networker (covering 1986-2000) Psychotherapy Networker (covering 2001-2005)

Accession 2009.024
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Wed 09 Sep 2009 10:01 AM BST
Accession 2009.024Robert Clark Various books, articles and leaflets: Barnardo Children About Barnardo's Keeping the Vision Alive - Winston Fletcher Order of Service for Lyn Ryder About Caldecott Community Papers from Tang Yungmei Letter from Betty Palmer re Caldecott Community Memoir from Ann Lee

Accession 2009.023
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Wed 09 Sep 2009 10:01 AM BST
Accesssion 2009.023
Rosemary Lilley from Arthur Barron
Typescripts for lectures and articles Flyer for David Wills lecture by Arthur Barron Four booklets re Q-Camps, 1938-45 Booklet: Suffering in Childhood - Janet Goodall, The 1979 Barnardo Lecture The New Era (x20) Home and School (x25) Journal of Social Work Practice (x2) Journal of Child Psycotherapy (x3) The Psycoanalytic Study of the Child (x4) Psychological and Social Series (x4) Child Social Adjustment (x3) About Hampsted Child Therapy Clinic
Tuesday, September 8

Accession 2009.022
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Tue 08 Sep 2009 12:19 PM BST
By Rachael Thompson, Work Placement/Volunteer -
From Ann Hales-Tooke, a collection of slides and books. more »

Accession 2009.021
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Tue 08 Sep 2009 12:13 PM BST
Accession 2009.021
Helen fry /1) Video: Celebrations, 1991-1996 /2) Magazines - 'Link-up' Magazines, 1985-1992 /3) Booklet - 'Collective Experience', cotains articles and poems, 1984  /4) Booklet - Information about the Cotswold Community, 1997

Accession 2009.019
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Tue 08 Sep 2009 12:06 PM BST
Accession 2009.019
Sheila Gatiss
Reports, photos, journals, handbooks, memos and policy documents.

Accession 2009.018
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Tue 08 Sep 2009 12:04 PM BST
Accession 2009.018Cynthia Cross Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties - Journal: Vol. 14.1 March 2009 ArticlesThe National Behaviour and Attendance review in Wales: findings exclusion set in context - Ken Reid What teachers of students with SEBD need to know about speech and languge difficulties - Jodi Tommerdahl Lesons learned: students voice at a school for pupils experiencing social, emotional and behavioural difficulties - Edward Sellman The relationship between divorce and the psychological well-being of children with ADHD: differences in age, gender and subtype - Leila Heckel, Adam Clarke, Robert Barry, Rory McCarthy and Mark Selikowitz Variability of ADHD symptoms across primary school contexts: an indepth case study - Linda Wheeler, Peter Pumfrey and Peter Wakefield

Accession 2009.017
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Tue 08 Sep 2009 12:04 PM BST
Accession 2009.017
Robert Clark for the Caldecott Association
Hand-make book - "Caldecott Birthday Calendar"

Accession 2009.016
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Tue 08 Sep 2009 12:02 PM BST
Accession 2009.016
Craig Fees
Notice of Annual Forum of Community and Communities, 27/03/2009

Accession 2009.015
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Tue 08 Sep 2009 12:00 PM BST
Accession 2009.015Bob Hinshelwood Six Books written or edited by Bob Hinshelwood: Dictionary of Kleinian thought Suffering Insanity Introducing Melanie Klein Clinical Klein Observing Organisations Organisations, Anxieties amd Defences

Accession 2009.014
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Tue 08 Sep 2009 11:55 AM BST
Accession 2009.014
Michael Porter
A study about exclusion from school: "Excluded from School - Does That Make Me a Criminal?"

Accession 2009.013
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Tue 08 Sep 2009 11:53 AM BST
Accession 2009.013Purchase Two Books: Child Psychotherapy and Research - Midgley, Anderson et al. Selected Papers of`Margaret Lowenfeld - Urwin and Hood-Williams

Accession 2009.012
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Tue 08 Sep 2009 11:48 AM BST
Accession 2009.012
Les Spencer
CD: Sociotherapy - A talk about the change processes used at Fraser House...

Accession 2009.011
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Tue 08 Sep 2009 11:46 AM BST
Accession 2009.011
Cynthia Cross Two journals:
Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties Vol 13.4, 2008 Council for Disabled Children: Inclusion Policy, 2008

Accession 2009.009
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Tue 08 Sep 2009 11:38 AM BST
Accession 2009.009/1Wenn wir in den Wolken wohnen - Jurgen H.A.Gotte Accession 2009.009/2Persistenz und Verschwinden: Persistence and Dissapperance - Gohlich, Hopf and Trohler

Accession 2009.008
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Tue 08 Sep 2009 11:38 AM BST
Accession 2009.008/1La comunidad terapeutica - Maria Elena Goti Accession 2009.008/2Psiquiatria administrativa - David H. Clark  [Craig's note: David Clark's classic text translated into Spanish]

Accession 2009.007
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Tue 08 Sep 2009 11:38 AM BST
Accesssion 2009.007Purchase Biografia: De Una Comunidad Terapeutica - Emilio Rodrigue

Accession 2009.006
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Tue 08 Sep 2009 11:38 AM BST
Accession 2009.006Purchase Reaching the Other Side - Earl S. Martin 'The Journal of an American who Stayed to Witness Vietnam's Postwar Transition'
Avoiding the politics of the situation this book takes a look into the people of Vietnam after the war.  [Craig's note: Earl Martin helped to found ' Crossing Creeks Therapeutic Communty' in Virginia.]

Accession 2009.005
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Tue 08 Sep 2009 11:37 AM BST
Accession 2009.005
Paula Agustini
17 articles 2 books Animal rights 1999-2008

Accession 2009.004
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Tue 08 Sep 2009 11:34 AM BST
Accession 2009.004
Sheila Gatiss
Books and VHS videos

Accession 2009.003
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Tue 08 Sep 2009 11:32 AM BST
Accession 2009.004
John Lyward
George Lyward - His Autobiography

Accession 2009.002
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Tue 08 Sep 2009 11:30 AM BST
Accession 2009.002
DVD, 2009
ACRS Breakfast with Earl Martin

Accession 2009.001
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Tue 08 Sep 2009 11:27 AM BST
Accession 2009.001
Jo Moad
15 books Journal of Child Psychotherapy, vol 6 1980, vol 9.1 1983-vol 21.3 1995 Journal of the Association of Workers for Maladjusted Children vol 4.3 1977, vol 5.1 1977, and vol 6.1 1978 Studies in Environmental Therapy vol 1-3 1968-79 Photocopies and articles Typescript: Arthur Barron paper

Accession 2008.057
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Tue 08 Sep 2009 11:01 AM BST
Accession 2008.057
D.J. Goddard
Photographs relating to Bodenham Manor School c.1937-1984

American therapeutic communities 1972
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Tue 08 Sep 2009 10:40 AM BST
I am just handling accession 2007.053, from the late Richard Crocket.
In here is a photostat copy of a letter from Lois Danton at Herrick
Memorial Hospital, Berkeley, CA to Bernard Sklar MD in England, dated
February 9th, 1972.
Lois Danton notes that the term "therapeutic community" is used loosely
in the States; that the Maxwell Jones model "is often given lip
service"; and that most places would be more "therapeutic milieu" than "community".
From her research, she thinks the following "are indeed therapeutic communities":
Fort Logan Mental Health Center, Denver, Colorado
High Point Hospital, Poert Chester, New York
Psychiatric Inpatient Service, Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven, Connecticut
Research Division Ward, Manhattan State Hospital, Ward's Island, New York.
She's less certain about:
Southeastern Psychiatric Unit, Colorado State Hospital, Pueblo, Colorado
Temple University Community Mental Health Center, Partial Hospitalization Services, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Illinois State Psychiatric Instittue, Chicago, Illinois
"and maybe"
U.S. Naval Hospital Psychiatric Unit, Newport, Rhode Island
Vermont State Hospital, Waterbury, Vermont.
She noted a recent advertisement from The Good Samaritan Hospital, San
Jose, California, for a "Psychiatric Director for 24-bed Therapeutic
Community Hospital", and as a post script added:
"Also: The Bronx State Hospital, New York City, 'all 40 wards operate
as therapeutic communities'."
Fascinating
Friday, August 7

Squiggle Foundation Lecture: OLIVE STEVENSON!
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Fri 07 Aug 2009 03:26 PM BST
The
Squiggle Foundation
Public
Lecture
Saturday
10th
October 2009
to
be held at
Primrose
Hill Community Association
29
Hopkinson’s Place, Fitzroy Road, London, NW1
At
3.00pm
A
lecture by
Professor
Olive Stevenson C.B.E.
Professor
Emeritus of Social Work, Nottingham University
on:
“Responses
to “antisocial” youth: does Donald Winnicott have messages for us
today?”
This
paper will draw out Winnicott’s key observations on youth and “the
antisocial tendency” and will comment on their validity and
relevance to contemporary society in the UK. There are three broad
areas for consideration; first, the effect of recent and current
social trends on the relationship between the generations; secondly,
the political responses to public concern; thirdly, the effects of
both on the structure and delivery of services. To what extent can we
utilize Winnicott’s ideas in the present context?
Tickets
can be purchased “at the door” on the day of the lecture.
Lectures
start promptly at 3.00p.m. Doors open at 2.45p.m.
Prices:
Members £5.00, non-members £15.00, Concessions £10.00
(full-time students, senior citizens, UB40s)
Any
queries should be directed to Vicky Raingold, The Administrator, The
Squiggle Foundation, The Tors, 14 Woodhill Crescent, Kenton, Harrow,
Middlesex, HA3 0LY, tel. - 07534422117, email -
squigglefound@supanet.com
Patrons:
Dr Christopher Bollas - Prof John Davis - Dr Rosemary Gordon - Dr
Andre Green - Dr Jennifer Johns - Brett Kahr - Harry Karnac - Dr
Jonathan Miller - Adam Phillips - Cesare Sacerdoti - Jean Scarlett -
Dr Kenneth Wright
Tuesday, July 7

May we have your help? -
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Tue 07 Jul 2009 09:55 PM BST
May we have your help?
We have put together an online
Questionnaire at http://www.otherpeopleschildren.org.uk,
the aim of which is to strengthen our understanding of audience and
potential audience for the Planned Environment Therapy Trust Archive
and Study Centre, and to support a major grant application for a
project entitled "Therapeutic Living With Other People's
Children: An oral history of residential therapeutic child care c.
1930 - c. 1980".
The Planned Environment Therapy
Trust Archive and Study Centre was founded in 1989. It is the only
Archive and Study Centre devoted exclusively (or is that
inclusively?) to therapeutic community environments in the world, and
we depend upon the diverse community we serve to keep us on our toes,
alert to their needs and to new ways in which we can extend our
resources and services to them and to the widest possible public. The
Archive and Study Centre main website is at http://www.pettarchiv.org.uk
We are in the midst of a major grant application to the
Heritage Lottery Fund which has come out of our work with former
children, families and staff of therapeutic communities for children
and young people. In this project we are trying to apply everything
we have learned over the past twenty years to help meet their needs
for place and foundation, and to introduce the wider community to an
area of the national life and heritage which is immensely rich -
challenging, but with tremendous rewards in learning and
understanding. To find out more about "Therapeutic Living With
Other Peoples Children: residential therapeutic child care c. 1930 -
c. 1980", and the principles underlying it, please see
http://news.otherpeopleschildren.org.uk.
We have been awarded a development grant from the Heritage
Lottery Fund to help us to prepare the strongest application possible
by the submission deadline of August 28, 2009. Your help is
essential.
By taking ten to fifteen minutes to answer the
questionnaire at http://www.otherpeopleschildren.org.uk
you will help to strengthen the application tremendously, by
providing detailed information on audiences and potential audiences
for the Archive and Study Centre and the Oral History project itself.
Having said which, all the online questionnaires are answered
anonymously, and though we do ask some age/gender/profession-type
questions, no identifying information is gathered, and these
questions are only there to help us understand the who, where, if,
and how of the current and possible audience. Yes, the questionnaire
is more verbose than one put together by professional pollsters -
anyone who knows me will not be surprised by that; but, yes, we are
also very very grateful for your willingness to complete it. It
should take no more than 10 to 15 minutes, according to all of the
trials so far.
Your feedback on the Questionnaire itself is
also very welcome. This is a total learning experience for us.
If you wish to be on our mailing list, and
be kept up to date with the progress of the "Other Peoples
Children" application, project and other things, please email the archivist directly.
THANKYOU!
Wednesday, April 29

Paul Potts: Can you help?
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Wed 29 Apr 2009 11:17 AM BST
Canadian
biographer seeks information on Northfield Author Paul Potts
Back in
the mid 1990s Mark Holloway, biographer of Norman Douglas and friend
of Canadian-born Soho poet Paul Potts, "caught a train to London
from his home in Salisbury, got on a plane and flew to Vancouver and
then proceeded to track me down..." writes Leigh Hirst, in a
query to the Archive and Study Centre. "He was in his late
seventies and legally blind." He arrived "unannounced and
essentially unknown" with "one small briefcase" as
luggage. In the background, back in England, was an unfinished
biography of Paul Potts. The relationship between Holloway and Hirst developed, centred on the
biography of Potts; and following Holloway's death in 2004 his papers
and the task of completing the biography went to Hirst, who would very much like to hear from anyone who knew Paul Potts, or can
shed any light on his extraordinary life and career.
Paul
Potts was one of the community of artists and writers who passed
through Birmingham's Northfield Military Psychiatric Hospital during
World War II - so many, and so distinctive, that writer Raynor
Heppenstall joked there should be an Old Northfieldians tie for them.
The story of the Northfield Experiments, as the work there came to
be called, has been told by Dr. Tom Harrison in Bion,
Rickman, Foulkes and the Northfield Experiments: Advancing on a
Different Front published by Jessica Kingsley in 2000.
In his
magisterial Fear and Loathing in Fitzrovia: the bizarre life of
writer, actor, Soho dandy Julian Maclaren-Ross (Dewi-Lewis Publishing, 2003) - Maclaren-Ross was another Northfield
author - , Paul Willetts describes the
"English-educated Paul Potts, inveterate scrounger, fervent
left-winger and self-styled "People's Poet From The Canadian
Prairies". " who "had been ignominiously discharged
from the army, though he still dressed in a tatty army-issue
greatcoat which flapped open to reveal a stained red shirt, worn with
sandals and black corduroy trousers." (p. 150) Augustus Young
calls Potts "the secular saint of self-effacement", and in the
New Partisan Robert Latona refers to Potts' Dante Called You Beatrice
as "a book that I think finishes in a dead heat with Berlioz’s
Memoirs in presenting a convincing prose simulation of the
self-lacerating emotional delirium that comes from being in love with
someone who doesn’t love you back. "
Ronald
Caplan speaks of Potts as "moving among the elite literati and
selling his poems on “penny each” broadsides, an act he
considered a “sacrament.” He was a man of rare attentions, brave
and tender, who wrote unfashionably in his time: a kind of
straightforward poetry and prose about love, human kindness, decency,
hope for the species, and peace" and publishes what Robert
Latona calls "a conscience-scalding photographic portrait of
Potts during his last days on earth" taken by Christopher Barker
"in which the addled, rag-clad poet evokes a penitent St Jerome
as Goya might have depicted him." (The photograph)
A short poem by Potts, "To Ezra Pound", is available in a podcast, read by Paul Tyler.
Did you know Paul Potts? Have any information about him? Or about other Northfield artists and writers? Please get in
touch.
Thursday, April 23

New IHWTE Publication Series
by
Dr. Craig Fees
on Thu 23 Apr 2009 11:23 AM BST
“An Obscure Philanthropist”
Frank Mathews 1871 - 1948 By Tony
Rees ISBN
978-0-9561775-0-6 Published in
association with the IHWTE by Castle View Books
PO Box 154 Ludlow SY8 9BH Castleviewbooks@btinternet.com
Price £10 + £2.20 post and
packing |  |
PRESS RELEASE: April 2009 Biography of Frank Mathews Ludlow based Castle View Books in association with the Institute for the History and Work of Therapeutic Environments has published “An Obscure Philanthropist” a biography of Frank Mathews, 1871-1948, by Dr Tony Rees.
Frank Mathews will be remembered by many as the leader of Birmingham’s Cripples Union from 1899 and the founder of the Cripples Hospital, now the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, whose centenary is celebrated this year.
After leaving the Union in 1922 he went on to found charities working for children with heart problems, then the biggest cause of death, and children with nervous and behavioural problems, pioneering new treatment regimes for both.
Much of this work was done in the counties of Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire, where children were sent to local hospitals to recuperate or put under the care of foster parents on small farms.
Two years before his death he bought Bodenham Manor, just north of Hereford, which became, from its opening in 1950, a successful and influential therapeutic community for children under pioneering child care figure David Wills OBE.
This is the story of a man born into a middle class family but orphaned in childhood, who devoted his life to sick children, many from the poorest families. He inspired support from cabinet ministers and industrialists, factory workers, the parents of the children he helped and, later in their lives, the children themselves.
The story, written by someone who knew him, is told largely in his own words. It brings back a world, largely forgotten after 50 years of the welfare state, when life for the many could be, and often was, terribly hard; but also a world of innovation in family and child care theory and practice, much of which has passed into use as best practice, and some of which is still to be re-discovered.
Frank Mathews' archives, and the archives of the Birmingham Society for the Care of Invalid and Nervous Children, are held in the Planned Environment Therapy Trust Archive and Study Centre, in Toddington, Gloucestershire.
- Too rarely do people like Frank reach out to us as rounded characters and too rarely can we truly appreciate their work and their legacies. Therein lies the importance of this biography. Frank Mathews made a difference. He changed lives and we can understand him, his calling and his work all the better thanks to Tony's assiduous research and thoughtful writing."
- - Professor Carl Chinn, MBE, School of History and Cultures, University of Birmingham
- MORE...
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