In Residence

When you are working at a deep and intense level with a child who has experienced unreliable and disrupted early care, or with a child who has at a later stage experienced devastating loss, rejection, emotional injury and hurt, you are likely to be attacked by that child. This attack, which is likely to be … Read more

A warm welcome to our 1st April edition. To keep you buoyant through these challenging times we bring you a feed of stimulating and informed papers. The mission of the International Centre is: ‘To share models of therapeutic care, and to extend the influence and insights gained from our member networks, in order to improve … Read more

Overview The Mulberry Bush Third Space or MB3 is a picturesque and peaceful rural site in the heart of the Cotswolds just 12 miles from Cheltenham. We provide indoor and outdoor space for conferences, training courses, workshops, seminars, study and research and for use by schools, clubs and groups. The meadow can cater for a … Read more

Recently my wife and I made a trip to the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington, and in the process erased childhood memories of an unattractive place that I had always associated with dark, dingy staircases and large, inscrutable Chinese urns.  This encounter with the place in later life effected such a transformation that … Read more

It’s obviously a challenge, if not downright foolhardy, to write about silence.  But in this case, I believe there is no alternative.  Some weeks ago, person who had lived at Mill Grove as a child came back after a gap of over twenty years.  He is now a trained psychotherapist and prison chaplain.  It was … Read more

Author’s note on the current pandemic It may seem odd to publish an article advocating helpful touch, during a pandemic when the advice is to maintain 2-meter social distance. However, we were researching this material more than a year ago, as the neuroscience confirmed Lemn Sissay’s insights, we decided to update our advice and training … Read more

A paper given at the 2012 conference of the Rosa Dei Venti Therapeutic Community Organisation, Italy. Adolescent groups and everyday life[1] Abstract Adolescence is a period of change.  An existential change that is a change in the sense of who one is, a change in one’s identity.  It may be a catastrophic crisis in identity, … Read more

Our mission is to share models for therapeutic care and to extend the influence and insights gained from our member networks, in order to improve services and outcomes for traumatised children, young people their families and communities. A warm welcome to our new members: Hayley BuncleJane HicksVicki Wood – Attachment Focus UKJennifer Mc Millan – … Read more

During the 1970s a colleague of mine in the Edinburgh Social Work Department applied for a job as a specialist social worker with children in care.  These were the heady days when the likes of psychotherapy, Maxwell-Jones, Dingleton Hospital and R.D Laing were forces to be reckoned with north of the boarder, and so, believe … Read more

I won’t locate this factual narrative in time or place in order to preserve anonymity… The young boy in question is growing up in a troubled family. The family has chronic problems with debt; with obesity; and with poor housing.  The father has been off sick long-term with a form of anxiety/depression that means he … Read more