| Opinion
& Essays
-
Feb, 1993 Issue #20 |
"THE HURT AND THE HEALING"
A Study of English Therapeutic Communities published 1990
Starting in 1987, eleven therapeutic
communities for children and young people in England,
calling themselves the Charterhouse Group, started meeting
with the support of the Peper Harow Foundation. One
of the results was this small scale study "to look at the
communities themselves and the effects upon children and young
people who use their services." The number of spaces for children
in the communities programs) involved were 366.
The first sections describe the
therapeutic communities, and the type and background of the
children they work with, parameters of the study, etc. In
the conclusion, the answer to the question, "Do Children and
Young People Make Measurable Progress During Their Time In
Residence?," the answer was yes, based on the information
gathered.
Chapter seven, with tables, etc.,
deals with the specifics of emotional and behavioral development
during residence. School behavioral problems dropped most
drastically, though that might be due to residential schooling.
On control issues, older boys and girls showed a decrease
in symptoms while younger children showed a slight increase.
Attempts or threat of suicide was marginally down, but stayed
the same for older girls. For learning in school, older boys
showed some improvement but younger ages did not. Persistent
fears decreased significantly for older boys and younger children,
but remained a factor for older girls. Enuresis was mostly
a younger child symptom, and had almost completely disappeared.
Legal offenses were significantly reduced.
The report was sent to me by
the Peper Harow Foundation, 14 Charterhouse Square, London
EC1M 6AX tel: 071-251 6072/0672.
Copyright
© 1993, Woodbury Reports, Inc. (This article may be reproduced
without prior approval if the copyright notice and proper
publication and author attribution accompanies the copy.)
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