Psychoanalysis at Hawkspur Camp and Other Therapeutic Communities for Antisocial Children and Young People

Bibliographic Data

ID21717504
AuthorsAna Tomčić (Essex, UK, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume26
Issue2
Pages187-208
Publication date2024-08-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePsychoanalysis and History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1460-8235 • E-ISSN: 1755-201X
PublisherEdinburgh University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.3366/pah.2024.0512
OpenAlexW4401177095
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited11

Psychoanalytically informed therapeutic communities constitute an important, but often forgotten, chapter in the history of applied psychoanalysis. Apart from the original experiments by analysts and educators such as August Aichhorn or Homer Lane, little is known about the vibrant and socially progressive nature of residential communities established during and in the aftermath of the Second World War. This article explores the uses of psychoanalysis in four such communities that worked with antisocial children and young people: the Hawkspur Camp, established in 1936 by David Wills and Marjorie Franklin; the Barns Hostel, a hostel for ‘unmanageable’ child evacuees from Edinburgh and Glasgow, active during the Second World War; the Reynolds House, a residential home for boys leaving approved schools who had no home to return to, started in London in 1963; and the Cotswold Community, a residential school for ‘maladjusted’ children in Wiltshire, transformed into a therapeutic community in 1967. Apart from the modifications of psychoanalytic methods made necessary by this environment, a key question posed by these communities is what constitutes healing social relationships at large, and how psychoanalysis can be instrumental in building and maintaining them

Archaeology · Criminology · Psychoanalysis · Psychoanalytic theory · Psychotherapist · Sociology · Therapeutic community · World War II · Child Welfare and Adoption · Historical Psychiatry and Medical Practices · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · History · Psychology

Tools

Open DOI