Selma Fraiberg's Magic Years - a new series by Joel Kanter

The first two parts of Joel Kanter's series of articles about Selma Fraiberg are now available to read in the goodenoughcaring Journal.

The first artcle Fraiberg Remembered Part One The Magic Years can be found at Fraiberg Remembered Part One The Magic Years

The second Selma Fraiberg's Magic Years Part Two "An unconventional Analytic training" can be read at Fraiberg's Magic Years Part Two An Unconventional Training

John Cross, (1931 - 2017)

John Cross

John Cross, for over 60 years an influential figure in the field of planned environment therapy in therapeutic communities for children has died aged 85 at his home in Cheltenham. He retired from his role as Director of the Planned Environment Therapy Trust in 2012. Until the onset of his illness in the autumn of 2015,  John continued to be  involved in the daily life of PETT at Toddington in Gloucestershire.

In 1952, his early ambition to take up a place at Durham University and  to become a politician faded on the completion of his National Service when the direction of his life was altered by a summer placement at Bodenham Manor School where David Wills was the Warden. John decided that what was going on at the school felt right and that shared experience in a therapeutic community would provide the pathway for his life. In the following decades John was engaged in the community life of Bodenham Manor School, Herefordshire, Ashley House Remand Home, Worksop, New Heys Reception Centre, Liverpool and New Barns School, Toddington.

At the same time as he was engaged as a member of the group of children and adults at New Barns John became a psychotherapist, served as a magistrate in the Juvenile Justice System, was the Chairman of the Youth and Family Courts and  Vice Chairman of the Gloucestershire Probation Committee.

John maintained his relationships with those who had been with him and his colleagues at New Barns. Over the years he became a ‘best man’ at their weddings and a godparent at the christening of their children many times over.

John played an influential role in a number of other organisations. He was a founding member of the Association of Workers with Maladjusted Children (AWMC) which later became the Social, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties Association (SEBDA) and for over 40 years served on its Council. Prior to his death was John was the only living founding member of PETT. He was a founding member of other groups too including the Charterhouse Group, Young Minds and the Child Care History Network.

Over his career John wrote and presented a number of influential papers about therapeutic communities and planned environment therapy and he co-authored the controversial 1979 Quaker publication Six Quakers Look at Crime and Punishment: A Study Paper.

John was a Quaker. He was a man modest about his achievements. For him achievement was the shared experience of a community. John is survived by his two sisters Sybil and Cynthia. He will be sorely missed and fondly remembered by so many of the people with whom he shared experience and a community life.

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Here is the text of an interview with John from 2010 and this is the article he wrote for the goodenoughcaring Journal in 2012, Some tentative thoughts on the concept of planned environment therapy is at http://www.goodenoughcaring.com/the-journal/some-tentative-thoughts-on-the-concept-of-planned-environment-therapy/

This month's goodenoughcaring Journal author: Cynthia Cross

Each month during 2017 we are highlighting articles of authors who have contributed to the goodenoughcaring Journal over the years. The first author featured in this series is Cynthia Cross. The articles we have selected are  Acceptance,  Winnicott and Residential Work and Defensive Adults.

There are a number of other excellent articles written by Cynthia to be found in the goodenoughcaring Journal. Cynthia welcomes discussion of the issues she raises and comments about them can be mailed to goodenoughcaring@icloud.com

In brief, more Winnicott on Adolescence

“Is it not a prime characteristic of adolescents that they do not accept false solutions? They have a fierce morality which accepts only that which feels real, and this is a morality that also characterizes infancy. It is a morality that goes much deeper than wickedness, and has as its motto, ‘to thine own self be true’. The adolescent is engaged in trying to find the self to be true to.       This is linked with the fact that, as I have said, the cure for adolescence is the passage of time, a fact which has very little meaning for the adolescent.”

Excerpt From: D. W. Winnicott, Clare Winnicott, Ray Shepherd & Madeleine Davis (1984) Deprivation and Delinquency.  London, Tavistock Publications

A number of interesting articles about Winnicott and his ideas can be found at the goodenoughcaring Journal and in Writings on the goodenoughcaring website

This entry was posted in goodenoughcaring.com on February 3, 2017.

Something to consider : Adam Phillips on teaching

‘The only reason to go to school, that I can see, is to make friends whom you love and like. If you’re lucky, you find something that really interests you. You’ve got to learn to read and write and basic numeracy and so on, but, other than that, it’s absolutely pointless to teach children things that they’re not interested in. The education system needs to factor that in. I remember one of my daughter’s teachers saying to me, “She only works at the subjects she’s interested in.” I was thinking, Great! That would be the point. You go to school, and teachers offer you the things they think are good, but you choose them. It’s always true that the student chooses the teacher.’

This is an extract from  Sameer Padania’s 2010 interview with the psychoanalyst and essayist Adam Phillips for Bomb Magazine. The full text of the interview can be found at   http://bombmagazine.org/article/3623/adam-phillips

This entry was posted on the home page of the goodenoughcaring.com on January 11, 2017.

Issue 20 of the goodenoughcaring Journal is now online

The final scheduled issue of the goodenoughcaring Journal is now online. Articles submitted or commissioned in the future will continue to be published but regular readers will we relieved to know that after the next one they will know longer have to read the promotional email we send out to you every six months.
This issue is an interesting and informative one, a challenging one, a controversial one and perhaps a disturbing one. We would welcome and encourage your comments on any of the articles.

In this issue :-
Dr. Elaine Arnold tells of the significance education held for immigrants to the United Kingdom from the Caribbean while Margaret Hughes recollects the City of Birmingham’s efforts to meet the social and educational needs of immigrants from the Indian sub-continent and elsewhere in the 1950s,60s,70s and 80s.
Noel Howard discusses religion, spirituality and the importance of place in social care. Michael J Marlowe considers how relationships may be made with children who are difficult to reach and Maurice Fenton proposes and develops a concept of ‘relationship based self-care.’
Alex Russon reflects on relocating with his young family from the midlands of England to the north-east of Scotland and Justin Frost reviews three feature films which deal with divorce, parenting and family break up.
Cynthia Cross examines the issues which can lead to a cycle of disruption in residential child care. Maurice Fenton proposes and develops the concept of ‘relationship based self-care.’ In a further article he contemplates the notion of ‘vicarious confidence’ in the care of children and young people and Simon Blades reviews Maurice’s latest book ‘The Stolen Child’.
Colin Maginn proposes that we can do better than good enough caring. John Stein recalls how times have changed in child and youth care. In a second article Elaine Arnold argues that aspects of attachment theory remain significant throughout life.
Mark Smith has written a startling, challenging and important article on the prosecution of those accused of child sexual abuse.
In his editorial Charles Sharpe has attempts a brief explanation of what those who founded the Journal believed goodenoughcaring to be and with it he provides a brief history of the goodenoughcaring Journal.

We hope you find something to interest you in this issue. We’d like to thank all the people who have written for us and helped build up this superb archive about children growing up and the adults who care for them and educate them. Each piece of writing is interesting and thought provoking. The archive will remain open for everyone who is interested in the nurturing of children. News items will continue to appear on the home page and occasional articles will be published when they are submitted.
Finally we would like to thank the hundreds of thousands of people who visit and read the Journal. It is good to be part of this community.

Not long now: the 20th goodenoughcaring Journal goes online December 15th, 2016

Issue 20 is published online tomorrow.

Elaine Arnold writes about the significance education had for immigrants to the United Kingdom from the Caribbean while Margaret Hughes recollects the City of Birmingham’s efforts to meet the social and educational needs of immigrants from the Indian sub-continent in the 1950s,60s,70s and 80s.

Noel Howard considers religion, spirituality and the importance of place in social care. Michael J Marlowe examines the making of relationships with children who are difficult to reach and Maurice Fenton proposes and develops the concept of ‘relationship based self-care.’

Alex Russon considers the implications of relocating a family to another region and Justin Frostreviews three feature films which deal with divorce and the break up of the family.

Cynthia Cross considers how to break the cycle of disruption which exists in residential child care.

In a further article Maurice Fenton contemplates ‘vicarious confidence’ in the care of children and young people and Simon Blades reviews Maurice’s latest book  ‘The Stolen Child’.

Colin Maginn proposes that we can do better than good enough caring and in response Charles Sharpe writes briefly about the history of the goodenoughcaring Journal and the idea of good-enough caring.

John Stein thinks about how times have changed in child and youth care. In another article Elaine Arnold argues that aspects of attachment theory remain significant throughout life. Mark Smith provides a challenging article on the prosecution of those accused of child sexual abuse.

This entry was first posted on the home page of  goodenoughcaring.com website on December 13, 2016