I am a psychiatrist, with interests in history and complexity theory. I have worked in the rehabilitation psychiatry in the UK for the past 30 years. One of the places I worked was Hollymoor Hospital which is where the Northfield Experiments took place during the Second World War. This led to me writing Bion, Rickman, Foulkes and the Northfield Experiments: Advancing on a Different Front, and a number of other papers, including one in press at the present Communities, complexity theory and conversations, an updated version of a paper I presented at the Annual General Meeting of the Association of Therapeutic Communities in 2007. I have also published on leadership, advocacy and stress in doctors (http://pb.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/full/30/10/385).
At present I am chair of the Institute for the History and Work of Therapeutic Environments. This is an organisation formed through the collaboration of the Planned Environment Therapy Trust (PETT) and The Center for Medical History in the University of Birmingham. This aims to promote the work of therapeutic communities, through relating their past to the present. PETT has probably the largest archive of children’s and adult therapeutic communities in Europe, and perhaps the world. (see the site!!). At present I am researching the archives of a remarkable man called Harold Bridger, who was a significant person at Northfield, and remained in touch with the TC movement throughout his life, particularly in the UK, Italy and Greece.
Publications:
The Book:
Harrison, T. 2000, Bion, Rickman, Foulkes and the Northfield Experiments: Advancing on a Different Front. London: Jessica Kingsley.
Papers:
Harrison, T. 1996, Battle fields, social fields and Northfield, Therapeutic Communities, Vol. 17, no. 3, pps. 145 – 148.
Harrison, T. 1999, A Momentous Experiment: Strange Meetings at Northfield, in Campling, P. and Haigh, R., (eds.), Therapeutic Communities: Past, Present and Future, London: Jessica Kingsley, Ch. 1, pps. 19 – 31.
Harrison, T. and Clarke, D., 1992, The Northfield Experiments, British Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 160, pps. 698 – 708.
Mills, J.A. and Harrison, T. 2007, John Rickman, Wilfred Ruprecht Bion, and the origins of the Therapeutic Community, History of Psychology, Vol. 10, no. 1, pps. 22 – 43.
Harrison, T. and Gray, A.J., 2003, Leadership, complexity and the mental health professional. A report on some approaches to leadership training. Journal of Mental Health, Vol. 12, no. 2, pps. 153 – 159.
Harrison, T. 2006, Rolling the stone uphill: leadership, management and longer-term mental healthcare, in Roberts, G., Davenport, S., Holloway, F. and Tatton, T., Enabling Recovery: The principles and practice of rehabilitation psychiatry, London: Gaskell, ch. 21, pps. 299 – 309.
Harrison, T., Cook, C., Robertson, M. and Willey, J., 2006, Work-related stress and the psychiatrist: a case study, Psychiatric Bulletin, Vol. 30, pps. 385 – 387.
Haeney, O., Moholkar, R., Taylor, N. and Harrison, T., 2007, Service user involvement in psychiatric training: a practical perspective, Psychiatric Bulletin, Vol. 31, no. 8, pps. 312 – 314.
Law, J. and Harrison, T. 2002, Mental Health Promotion, in Nolan, P. and Badger, F. Promoting Collaboration in Primary Mental Health Care, Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes, Ch. 15, pps. 231 – 247.
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