Foreword to the GCS story
Gloucestershire Counselling Service (GCS), of which I’m Chair of Trustees, was created 40 years ago by a small group of counsellors and therapists who recognised that a local service was needed to meet the mental health needs of the people of Gloucestershire. These founders were very aware of the London-centric nature of psychodynamic therapy and were determined to “buck this trend”. It’s a story that is every bit as inspiring as the creation of therapeutic communities in the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s.
Diana Russell-Carey was one of the original social entrepreneurs behind the creation of GCS and the only one still alive to tell the story. It has been important for GCS to have its beginnings mapped out in this way as the oral history can all too easily disappear or become distorted.
John Whitwell