The two therapeutic community households remian central to the PA's charitable purpose and to its distinctive history and ethos.
The Grove
The Grove currently has three house therapists attending weekly.
House residents and house therapists have been working together on a Grove Handbook intended to provide clearer shared information about the running of the house, including governance, accountability, tennacy rights and relevant policies. It is intended to remain a working document that can develop over time.
The Grove has also been succssful in securing grants towrads refurbishment of the kitchen and the development of the garden as a more welcoming and environmentally sustainable space for residents. The garden project aims to provide opportunities for relaxation, involvement in gardening and greater contact with nature while also encouraging biodiversity.
The Grove is currently fully occupied.
Freegrove
Freegrove has experienced a period of transition during the year, including changes in house therapists and residents. we would particularly like to thank Nina Shores and Kay Holmes for their commitment and contribution to freegrove during their time as house therapists.
Freegrove currently has two house therapists and continues to offer placements to PA traines. There are currently vacancies in the house, and the house therapists continue to meet prospective residents.
The Houses Committee, CofM and Trustees continue to consider how best to support the therapeutic communities and ensure that appropriate structures of support, accountability and communication are in place.
We thank Ian McMillan, Amy Ison and Lakis Georghiou for their continued support and thoughtful contributions to the Houses Committee, and Sophia Raja for her work as Houses Coordinator, including her support with benefits and DWP matters and the practical complexities involved in maintaining the houses.
Therapy and Referral Services
The Therapy Service continues to provide an important point of access to psychotherapy through the PA.
Feedback is invited from those receiving a therapy consultation or assessment. Most of those responding have reported being satisfied with their consultation and indicated that they would recommend the PA. Feedback has also highlighted the value of providing clearer information about how people are matched with therapists, the PA's therapeutic ethos, disability access and the range of therapists practising within the organisation.
The Affordable Therapy Service continues to attract people seeking therapy at a lower fee. As demand has grown, the service has had to consider the availability of therapists able to offer lower-fee places, but referrals continue to be managed effectively.
RD Laing Subsidised Therapy Service - Pilot Project
During the year, funding was made available for a 12-month pilot enabling people on low incomes to see a qualified PA therapist for £20 per session, with the PA contributing towards the therapist's fee.
The pilot reflects an important part of the PA's charitable purpose - increasing access to psychotherapy for people who might otherwise be unable to afford it.
We will continue to review the pilot, including it's reach, effectiveness and financial sustainability
Psychotherapy Training
James Mann is currently Chair of the Training Committee and works alongside Elie Jesner, Lakis Georghiou, Alison Davies, Emma Stroker and Fliss Cadbury.
The psychotherapy training continues to attract a strong level of interest and successfully completed its UKCP quinquennial review during the year. We thank the Training Committee and everyone involved for the considerable work required in preparing for the review and for their continuing work supporting trainees and the wider training.
The PA has an established teaching faculty, including members who have taught here for many years as well as practitioners from outside the organisation. The programme seeks to retain the distinctive traditions and questions that have shaped the PA while remaining open to contemporary developments in psychotherapy and the wider social world.
Several trainees completed significant stages of their training during the year, and we congratulate them on their achievements.
A Consortium event in February brought together trainees from different psychotherapy organisations for a day considering perspectives on autism.
Applications to the training remain healthy. This is encouraging, while also raising questions about how the training might develop without losing the qualities that are particular to the PA. Possible future expansion has begun to be discussed and will be considered further by the faculty.
thank you to Jeremy Cutler for his contribution as an experiential group facilitator and welcome the new facilitator taking up this work.
The PA Study Programme
Around 50 students participated in the PA Study Programme, which continues to bring people into contact with PA thinking and practice without requiring them to undertake professional psychotherapy training.
Kit Zinovieff is currently Chair of the Study Programme and works on the committee with Lucy King and Andrea Heath. Iain Strong has provided administrative support and has also facilitated a reading group focusing on the work of the late Paul Gordon.
The Study Programme attracts people from a range of backgrounds and circumstances. The online course has extended this further by making it possible for people living outside London and the Uk, as well as those who may find regular travel difficult, to participate.
Six half bursaries and one full bursary have been awarded to support students who might otherwise find the cost of participating prohibitive.
More broadly, the PA remains committed to ensuring that its therapy services, training and educational programmes are accessible and welcoming to people from a wide range of backgrounds and circumstances. We recognise that this requires continuing atttention. Where participitation does not reflect the communities around us, we remain curious about why this may be and consider what may be getting in the way.
Thank you to the Study Programme group facilitators georgina Gavriel, Lily patten, Alla Butt, alison davies, Benjamin Morgan, laura Lauberte and debbie Johnson for their committment and hard work.
Our thanks also go to Paul Atkinson for his continuing contribution to Diploma in Community and Psychotherapy and for facilitating the Consciousness Raising Group. In a climate marked by fragmentation, inequlity and uncertainty, this group continues to provide a space in which experience can be thought about collectively and remains a distinctive part of the Study Programme.
We also thank Andreas Constandinos for his work facilitating the Reflective Practice Group, and all those who contribute seminars, groups and teaching to the programme each year.