Our history
Since 1994, CHT has championed a relational approach to mental health recovery, offering an alternative to hospital for over 2,000 people living with severe, sometimes complex, unfortunately still highly stigmatised, mental health conditions and challenges with independent living.
Our evidence-based work is rooted in Psychologically Informed Environments (PIE), Therapeutic Communities, Recovery, Psychodynamic Theory, and principles of Interpersonal Neurobiology.
Our story starts with Elly Jansen OBE (pictured right), a pioneer of non-hospital Therapeutic Communities.
Elly was born in Holland in 1929, the sixth of nine children. Growing up during Nazi occupation and on the front line between German and Allied armies she witnessed firsthand the impact of trauma and isolation from a young age. When she was just 15, Elly and her siblings fled through trenches with shells flying overhead and exploding all around. She promised God that if she made it through alive, she would become a missionary.
After the war, Elly studied psychology, trained as a nurse, and worked with disturbed children, and in 1955, moved to England to fulfil her promise to train as a missionary. This path led her into social work with the mentally ill, where it became clear to her that those recently discharged from mental hospitals needed support to adjust to daily life.
Using the £100 she had from her theological studies, Elly rented a house in Richmond, where those in need could find community support. After placing a notice in a local hospital, she waited nine weeks for her first applicant, marking the beginning of her first therapeutic community.
"Therapeutic Communities (TCs) are structured, psychologically informed environments – they are places where the social relationships, structure of the day and different activities together are all deliberately designed to help people's health and well-being."
The Consortium of Therapeutic Communities
Its success led Elly to establish the Richmond Fellowship, through which she promoted the reintegration of mental health patients into mainstream society. As the noted psychiatrist RD Laing once said, "She brought love into mental healthcare."
Under her leadership, Richmond Fellowship grew to include over 50 houses in Britain. Eventually, it extended its reach internationally, with therapeutic communities now scattered across Australia, New Zealand, India, and the United States.
In 1980, Elly was appointed an OBE in recognition of her contributions. She remained actively involved in therapeutic communities even in retirement.
"This is the best community support I have ever received. I am so grateful for the level of reflection, thoughtfulness and support that goes into facilitating the therapeutic environment at Richmond House. For the first time in decades, I am beginning to feel some security in my life, which is starting to increase my confidence, self-esteem and overall quality of life."
Richmond House resident
Among her many contributions, she founded the "Fellowship Foundation," which later became known as Community Housing and Therapy (CHT).
Since then, we have supported over 2,000 people through our seven therapeutic recovery communities. One is Richmond House, which is once again a therapeutic recovery community, 63 years after Elly started her first one there.
We work with people who have diagnoses of mental illness, principally personality disorders or psychoses, and have usually spent significant periods in hospitals before coming to us.
The community, staff and residents work together to help each resident find the other aspects of themselves so that they can embark on an individual and personal recovery journey, and see where it takes them. We have residents studying for degrees, volunteering, and even working in the NHS.
In the typical two to three years that residents stay with us, we support them in developing more responsibilities and autonomy, preparing them for transitions to semi-independent living and, ultimately, full independence.
‘(Like Elly Jansen, we believe in people’s ability to recover from whatever life experiences led them to be diagnosed with mental illness. We provide psychologically informed rehabilitative environments where individual residents can develop their recovery journeys within a supportive community of peers. Our focus extends beyond mental illness, encouraging residents to pursue education, employment, family connections, and social inclusion.’
Dr Peter Cockersell, CEO
We are proud to continue Elly's work creating therapeutic environments where people can experience and learn from community dynamics that promote recovery and raising awareness about the importance of community and relational practices in mental health care.
We are part of a global community of organisations, including The Consortium of Therapeutic Communities, the International Network of Therapeutic Communities (INDTC), and the Relational Practice Movement, which promote psychodynamic and relational practice and campaign for change.
We are also honoured to host the Elly Jansen Award, funded by Elly herself, which celebrates new research and recognises inspiring writing that explores creative approaches to therapeutic communities and relational practices.
