We are delighted to receive a grant from the National Lottery Awards for All to deliver a series of workshops over the coming year for residents and their keyworkers, covering skills like event planning, fundraising, teamwork, and leadership. This project started with residents and staff on our Fundraising Committee who saw the need for more structured support to help residents build confidence and skills for getting more involved in the community. Our fundraiser and researcher, Andrea (pictured), who has over 20 years of frontline and support experience at CHT, will lead the project. She will also support residents and keyworkers to take part in or organise community activities throughout the year, aiming to expand our involvement from bake sales to larger events like fetes and other local community activities. Andrea said; “This project is all about improving confidence and practical skills, creating stronger feelings of belonging, reducing isolation, and empowering residents to challenge stigma by taking active, valued roles in community life, not just within our therapeutic communities but in the wider community. We also hope it will raise our local profile and help generate funds to support our ongoing work. We are very grateful to the National Lottery for making this programme possible over the next twelve months.” With thanks to The National Lottery Awards for All.

As the clinical lead at Highams Lodge , I’ve witnessed firsthand the transformative power of psychotherapeutic interventions when they’re embedded within a true community. Historically, therapeutic communities have had very strict entry criteria and high expectations during placements, which means these services are only accessible to a select few with long-term mental health conditions. At CHT, we combine the Therapeutic Communities model and Psychologically Informed Environment (PIE) principles, and we intentionally welcome people experiencing severe mental distress due to trauma, often exacerbated by deprivation, inequality, and stigma who often sit in that middle place where they are stable enough to be discharged from hospital but might be rejected by most placements as they are deemed “too high risk to work with.” This makes our work profoundly rewarding because we are reaching some of the most vulnerable people, who would likely struggle to get this kind of specialised treatment due to mental health system cuts over the past 20 years. The Power of Being With, Not Doing To. At CHT, the psychotherapeutic intervention is not limited to a weekly session, but delivered by the whole team  through a structured, weekly therapeutic programme held within a residential setting that offers 24/7 support and containment. This collective, consistent presence means that the therapeutic intervention is a lived reality across the week. Staff, too, are supported through regular supervision, clinical meetings and reflective practice, creating an environment where the whole community is contained and supported.   At Highams Lodge, the shift begins quietly. Residents arriving at CHT often have long histories of broken relationships and disrupted lives. Their clinical notes read like a series of abrupt endings: Discharge . Relapse . Non-engagement . Eviction . Admission . Repeat . Many have been involved with services for years, but rarely had the chance to be met where they are and begin their recovery journey. The change we see for these residents at Highams Lodge often begins quietly through small moments. A resident might sit through morning meetings without speaking for months. Another may lash out in fear in shared spaces, then apologise the next day, surprised to find they are still welcome. Someone who has spent years rejecting professional help, had previously absconded from hospital and slept rough, who didn’t have hope that a placement at CHT could help them, begins to stay during crises or after an argument with another community member. These small moments are clinically significant. They signal that the person is trusting the container of the community, that the central intervention, the relationship itself, is beginning to work. This happens not just because setbacks or relapses are accepted, but mainly because people slowly learn that strained relationships can be repaired and relapses can teach us something instead of just repeating old patterns. Healing through community. When the whole community (not only staff) responds to distress with curiosity instead of fear and supports one another, and when peers challenge each other with honesty grounded in care, that is when you can see the power of a community that comes together and supports each other through difficult times. With the community’s support, our residents learn to handle distress, manage their emotions, and express their needs, which are all skills that can’t be taught in a dozen outpatient sessions or fixed by medication alone. This is why we often say at CHT that relationships are not an adjunct to treatment; relationships are the treatment. What I think makes CHT special is that we see people as individuals, not just their diagnosis. The hardest part for our residents is seeing themselves as more than “patients” or “service users”. It’s also tough for them to find their voice after it’s been ignored or silenced so often in the past by families or past institutions. A community event at Highams Lodge The community helps people explore their skills and strengths through weekly practical groups and activities like cooking, cleaning, budgeting, art, theatre visits, and organisation-wide events.  Through practical groups, creative activities, and involvement in community decision-making, residents discover new strengths and reclaim agency. Meaningful Outcomes Over the past four years, I’ve been honoured to see what’s possible when people are given time, support, and the right environment. I’ve watched people learn to trust professionals again and build meaningful relationships beyond our community. Because residents experience relationships in a new, healing way, placement breakdowns drop sharply, breaking long cycles through acute services. Self-harm intensity and frequency often decrease. Emergency calls are greatly reduced. I’ve seen staff and residents grow together, learning to navigate tough days, overcome setbacks, and celebrate progress. Like any community, ours isn’t perfect. We have tough days and challenges, but the chance to grow is unmatched. But we learn to navigate the ups and downs by giving everyone, residents and staff alike, time to learn, make mistakes, repair, try again, and hopefully move forward. We proudly offer a human approach that acknowledges that change takes time, that addressing trauma requires slow, skilled care that we learn together, because trauma is always about relationships. And we offer a place where people are at the centre, with all our perfect imperfections, our eagerness to make a difference, our struggles, and our successes. This work can’t be summed up as just another skill for a CV or to add to LinkedIn; it’s a life skill that truly matters.

As we welcome in the New Year, we have been reflecting a lot on hope, and what it can mean for our residents and staff in our therapeutic communities, and the hope we hold as an organisation at a time when, like so many other charities, we are dealing with tighter budgets and growing demand for support.   Resident artwork depicting hope in a therapeutic environment The start of a new year can bring a mix of emotions. It follows the festive season, a time for joy, but which can also be a time when social expectations around family, togetherness, and celebrations can increase feelings of loneliness, conflict, money worries, or stress. Our staff work hard during this time to create a safe space to celebrate for those who want to, while also holding space for how difficult it can be. In each of our communities, there’s emphasis on time spent together to provide that community support. At Highams Lodge , residents made a beautiful wreath for the front door, and at Lilias Gillies House , they decorated the tree together. At Mount Lodge , residents and staff had lunch and organised a Secret Santa with thoughtful homemade gifts (pictured right) for each other, which touched several people. Staff also hold space for residents and each other to feel listened to, or to spend time alone, knowing they are safe within a supportive community. In January, the ‘New Year, New You’ messages encourage change, renewal, and resolutions. But another year passing can highlight the chasm between where someone is and where they want to be. These feelings are common, and we know from conversations with residents that this can sometimes come with feelings of shame or not feeling good enough to achieve their goals. Vikki H, our Lived Experience Coordinator, said that, “When we have experienced trauma, had a challenging start in life, or haven’t had people who believe in us or see our strengths before, hope can sometimes feel out of reach. We might have hoped for things before and experienced disappointment in services and systems we went to for support. Sometimes we feel like we don’t deserve good things, or we doubt our abilities or the world around us.” What hope means to us and our relationship with it can be deeply personal. But hope matters because holding hope can encourage perseverance even when things feel challenging. Hope might mean the strength to get through the day. Hope can start as simply as realising there could be a different way to be, that change might be possible.  This can be grown through experiencing connection, feelings of safety, taking on realistic challenges, enjoying the successes, surviving when things don’t go well, feeling like someone else believes in you, even when you don’t believe in yourself.  It is then that we may be able to build on these feelings of hope and start to trust that there are different ways of relating and coping possible for us. It takes time, though, and it takes work from our residents and our staff. As one resident shared in her blog post, “ Mental Health is not Pretty ”, which described her recovery journey with CHT, when staff initially told her they would ‘ continue to hold the hope ’ for her, she became angry and told them to stop wasting their time, acknowledging later in her journey that they didn’t give up, and they weren’t wasting their time. As we begin 2026, we want to recognise these challenges and the support within our communities and across our organisation during this time. Our biggest hope for 2026 is that everyone - our residents, staff, and supporters alike - will feel it’s possible, or at least start to feel it’s possible, to have hopes, wishes, and goals they believe they can reach.

Relationships are central to our clinical approach at CHT, and one of the most enjoyable ways these relationships are built is through shared days out and activities that bring people together.    Residents & staff at Bubble Planet Throughout 2025, residents and staff organised a whole range of different activities and excursions. Some were opportunities to try something new,  or learn a new skill, like taking part in a glass fusing workshop in Eastbourne, a trip to Bubble Planet (pictured) , holding a craft and bake sale  at a community market in Croydon, or participating in Mental Health Awareness Week activities . A Halloween-themed party was one of our 2025 activities Other activities were organised around things that feel a bit more familiar or are located a bit closer to home, like heading out for a group meal , hosting a summer BBQ  or organising a Halloween-themed party . Alongside these local community events, residents and staff across all of our communities get together to organise an organisational-wide activity each year. They create opportunities for connections between all of our communities and are always a highlight of the year! A creative piece from our glass fusing workshop in 2025 Previously, we have visited London Zoo to meet animals and enjoy an ice cream, enjoyed a walk in Kew Gardens, taking in all the colourful plants and flowers, and this year, we headed to Gravity Max in Wandsworth, where we took part in a variety of interactive, virtual-reality games such as e-karting, plus a picnic in a nearby park complete with 'real-life' games including rounders. From our experience, there are several key ingredients that help make activities such as these meaningful and successful:   It’s codeveloped from the planning stage. It’s so important that staff and residents share ideas on where to go, what to do, and what might be possible. At CHT, ideas are shared and discussed at community meetings or psychosocial groups, ensuring that everyone’s voice is heard, all suggestions are considered, and everyone’s accessibility requirements are considered. Everyone can get involved. Working together to put plans into action means that everyone can have a role, no matter where they are on their recovery journey. Roles may include booking tickets, organising travel, designing posters, taking minutes, or preparing food for a picnic. Understanding how these roles interconnect reinforces that each contribution is equally important to making the event a success. Food can bring people together. We’ve found that incorporating the sharing of food into activities – especially in our organisation-wide trips - can encourage conversation, strengthen bonds and build a sense of belonging. There's room for reflection. Along the way and after the event, we make space for reflection. This allows residents and staff to share feedback, think about what worked well, and consider how the experience supports our clinical model and individual recovery journeys. There are so many therapeutic benefits to organising trips like these. They create a safe space for our residents to develop and build on skills such as pushing through when things feel challenging, managing social anxiety, working as part of a team and navigating interactions with other people. They also bring a lot of joy. For some residents, they offer opportunities they may have missed out on earlier in life, such as having a picnic or spending time outside their local area. Residents tell us that the activities they’ve helped to plan and participate in are lots of fun, help them feel connected to others and step outside their comfort zone in a way that feels supportive. As we reflect on 2025, we’d also like to thank our funders and supporters, especially the William Allen Young Charitable Trust, for helping to make these activities possible. A picnic in the park in 2025

We are facing a challenging time across health and social care, as services contend with significant financial constraints while demand for responsive, effective support increases. We've navigated many challenges since 1994, but we've remained steadfast in our commitment to promoting life beyond mental illness and hospitalisation for people experiencing multiple mental health diagnoses & co-occurring conditions. Our latest impact report highlights our achievements over the past year and celebrates our 30-year history of prioritising a person-centred approach to mental health recovery.   Outcomes over the past year include: We supported 73 people  who otherwise would have been in hospital. We saved UK health services an estimated £9m+  over twelve months. We worked with over 30  NHS trusts & local authorities. We saw a 62% average reduction in incidents  within 18 months of placement.

Kelly Howard is our Team Leader at Lilias Gillies House . In the second part of our Endings blog series, Kelly reflects on the significance of endings for residents in our communities. Endings hold such a deep significance in our therapeutic communities, marking not just a conclusion but a reflection of the journey shared. When our residents entrust us with their story, their struggles, and their growth, it is an honour that speaks to the strength of the relationships we build together. In this photo, we managed to capture this moment of saying goodbye to one of our Lilias Community members. The joy this resident brought to our community with her fantastic sense of humour, laughter and determination through her recovery journey has been an inspiration. Whether a placement ends in expected or unexpected ways, it is vital to acknowledge the connections formed, the progress made, and the trust given.  Represented by her T-shirt, these relationships can serve as steadying anchors, of hope, a foundation to build upon, offering support and continuity as they move forward toward their goals and aspirations. From left, former Lilias resident, and staff members Kelly Howard, Lena Norman, Joey Vines Bookmark this page, or register for our e-newsletter  for more.

Therapeutic Communities are widely recognised as an effective therapeutic tool for people facing challenges, including mental health issues and addiction. Launched in 2023, the Elly Jansen Award celebrates innovation and creative approaches to therapeutic communities and relational practice. The Award is a legacy of the late Elly Jansen OBE , a pioneer in the field of mental health and who cared passionately about making the work of therapeutic communities more widely known. There are two award categories: The Award for Original Articles This Award is for any written work about the ideas, practices, or your own experiences with therapeutic communities or relational practice. The winner of the Original Articles Award will receive a cash prize of £1,000 , will have their work published and shared through the Elly Jansen Award channels, and will be invited to present their article at the prestigious TCTC  conference in the UK, organised by our friends at The Consortium for Therapeutic Communities. Two runners-up will be awarded a cash prize of £500 . The Award for Research Proposals This Award aims to encourage new research into the effectiveness of therapeutic communities and relational practice, including through historical research. The winner of the Research Proposal Award will receive a cash prize of £5,000 , will have their proposal published and shared through the Elly Jansen Award website and newsletter, and will be invited to present their initial findings at the TCTC conference. The Awards are judged by a committee of leading voices experienced in therapeutic communities ​​from countries including Italy, India, Japan, the USA and the UK, including people with lived experience, therapists, academics, and social workers. The closing date for both awards is Sunday, 3rd May. Find out more at www.ellyjansenaward.org

Elly Jansen OBE, who has died aged 96, spent a lifetime dedicated to the field of mental health and the development of therapeutic communities globally. I first met Elly Jansen in 2017, soon after I began working with Community Housing and Therapy. She was already in her late 80s but still passionate about therapeutic communities and deeply interested in the work that CHT was currently doing; she had originally founded CHT (then called the Fellowship Charitable Foundation) some 25 years earlier but had parted company with the organisation shortly after its birth. 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. Elly remembered escaping to safety by crawling through a live battlefield with her siblings, mentally praying for God to keep them safe, an experience that profoundly affected her and gave her a deep belief in God. ​After the war, Elly studied psychology, trained as a nurse, and worked with disturbed children before moving to England in 1955, initially to train as a missionary. It was at that time that Elly recognised the need for support for people recently discharged from mental hospitals to adjust to daily life, and decided to refocus her energy on helping people in this way instead. ​ Elly (left), on the steps of one of her early therapeutic communities Using the £100 she had for her theological studies, Elly rented a house in Richmond, where those leaving hospital could find community support. After placing a notice in a local hospital, she waited six weeks for her first applicant, marking the beginning of her first therapeutic community. Elly lived in the first community herself, alongside her residents. They ate together, shopped together, and made decisions that affected the community democratically as a group. Everyone was expected to play their part. ​Its success led Elly to establish the Richmond Fellowship, through which she promoted the reintegration of mental health patients into mainstream society. Elly’s approach balanced helping people to accept themselves as they are in order to build the inner strength to overcome their mental illness, while challenging them enough to promote growth and see their potential. What we might now call positive risk-taking. While Elly became clear that there should be leadership from skilled, authentic and empathetic staff, she also emphasised the importance of staff and residents managing the community together. In Elly’s communities, there was a true sense of belonging. As the noted psychiatrist R.D. Laing once said, " She brought love into mental healthcare ." Elly and Princess Alexandra ​​​​Under her leadership, Richmond Fellowship grew to include over 50 therapeutic communities in Britain. One of its early patrons was Princess Alexandra. Elly also founded Richmond Fellowship International, establishing therapeutic communities in Australia, New Zealand, India, Hong Kong and the United States, amongst others. In that time, she published two seminal works, ‘The Therapeutic Community: Outside the Hospital’  and ‘Towards a Whole Society’,  which outline her philosophy and the principles of her therapeutic approach. In 1980, Elly was appointed an OBE in recognition of her contributions. Describing her work she said: ‘ It began with few preconceived ideas apart from the firm belief that people’s behaviour makes sense, and that the clue to the reconciliation and integration of the ‘sick’ individual with society lies neither in the authentication of extreme ‘sickness’ nor in identification with ‘sane’ society and its demands, but in establishing contact with and between the two ’ (Elly Jansen, The Therapeutic Community).   Elly was Director of the Richmond Fellowship and the Richmond Fellowship International for just over 20 years. She spoke at multiple conferences around the world, as well as publishing her two books and various articles, and, both directly and through her rigorous therapeutic staff training at the Richmond Fellowship College, had an enormous influence on the therapeutic community movement and relational practice more generally. As a manager and later Director at St Mungo’s, I was happy to employ many excellent staff who had experienced the Richmond Fellowship training, confident that they would be relational and able to work with the complex emotional and psychological challenges of the multiply disadvantaged rough sleepers we worked with there. The time at the Richmond Fellowship was probably the high point of her career. I think that the combination of a somewhat difficult departure from the organisations she had created (like so many charismatic founders), and some deeply distressing events in her own personal life, took their toll on her energy and ability to focus so single-mindedly on her therapeutic work, although she went on to found several other charities (including what became Community Housing and Therapy (CHT)) and involved herself with the theory and practice of therapeutic communities for the rest of her life. Elly and I met regularly ever since our first encounter back in 2017, and shared many conversations about therapeutic communities then and now, and her involvement in them, often over lunch and a glass of wine. We didn’t always agree, but we could hear each other’s views and argue it out; she was very present, quite direct in her opinions, full of insights into the dynamics of therapeutic communities, and fun to talk with. She had a sharp yet warm sense of humour that she kept to the end of her life. I was with her on her 93 rd  birthday, and I asked her how it felt to be 93; she smiled wryly and said, ‘I wouldn’t recommend it!' A long life is a blessed thing, but also has its difficulties. Elly outlived all her 8 siblings, and one of her daughters (she is survived by two), and saw both success and disappointment in her work. Her communities saved the lives of many people – I know some of them personally – but not all; that is the nature of working with extreme human distress, but it is also very difficult for everyone involved. Elly was deeply affected by tragedies in her working life, which in some ways mirrored tragedies in her personal life. Above all, she cared and showed her care. Right up until the end, Elly still cared passionately about therapeutic communities and about research, and about making the work of therapeutic communities more widely known. Elly's legacy. At 92, she wasn’t able to take this forward herself any more, but it was her idea to create an Award for original research and articles on therapeutic communities; I suggested it bear her name and she agreed; and so the Elly Jansen Award was born. She generously donated a sum to enable the Award, and the CHT Board of Trustees agreed that CHT would administer it through a Committee to oversee the process and to make the recommendations for the Award. The Committee is composed of a number of people who have been committed to and active in the world of therapeutic communities and relational practice across the world; there are members from the UK, Italy, India, Japan and the USA, psychotherapists, academics, social workers and experts by experience, men and women, younger Committee members, and not-so-young-anymore members too. The Award is part of Elly’s legacy. The house that Elly rented in 1959 for her first therapeutic community is now part of CHT, partly due to another generous grant from Elly, and is once again a flourishing therapeutic community; it also houses CHT’s training programme, which aspires to bring forward another generation of well-trained and committed therapeutic practitioners through our accredited Level 7 Diploma in Relational Practice in Mental Health . This too is part of Elly’s legacy, and young people in severe mental distress are still being supported in their endeavours to achieve more of their potential through the experience of living in a psychologically informed environment in a therapeutic community in the house where she first started. However, I will end with some more words from Elly’s writings, this time talking about the international conferences that she initiated whilst at the Richmond Fellowship: ‘ The purpose…was to enable those engaged in the work to extend their knowledge of developments and methods, and also to identify the particular contribution which the therapeutic community is able to make, in order to promote its full-scale development as part of mental health services ’ (Jansen, 1980, p10). She lived for that work, and, with the current crisis in mental health and the failure of medical models to provide resolution for people in severe and life-threatening emotional distress, it is work that remains as important today as it was then.   Jansen, E. (1980) The Therapeutic Community: Outside the Hospital. London: Croom Helm.

V, a resident of one of our Therapeutic Recovery Communities, shares her journey towards recovery and how she discovered the importance of healthy relationships, with herself and with others. "Through CHT, I have been shown healthy relationships with others and myself. As my self-worth began to build, I began to believe in myself and to understand myself.  Psychotherapy has been a cornerstone of my wanting to live, and live the best life I can. There have been difficult and dark times, and there will be in the road to come. I have the internal resources and the external support system now. I have rebuilt family relationships and cultivated friendships thanks to learning how to ‘do’ healthy relationships.  Mental ill health is not pretty. It's not washing for weeks. It's truly believing life is not worth living. It's eating out of the bin because it's too much to cook and look after yourself. It's unwashed beds. It's sadness that overflows and does not stop, and so much more. I know it’s not rewarding for staff every single day. It's not giving up on people even though they've given up on themselves. People used to say to me, ‘I'll continue to hold the hope’. My response, usually angrily, was to tell them to stop wasting their time. They didn't stop, though, and they weren't wasting their time. Without CHT, I dread to think where I would have ended up."

A resident in one of our Therapeutic Recovery Communities shares his experience of how finding a supportive community where he had a stake in decision-making has made a difference to his feelings of belonging. "When I first came to CHT, I was so nervous. I hadn't liked my previous accommodation, I kept running away, and the police brought me back. I wasn't sure what to expect. Being in a new environment was definitely a shock to the system, but everyone made an effort to make me feel welcome. Me and my support worker went for walks together and chatted, which really helped me settle in. When I first started therapy, I was really uncomfortable. But my support worker encouraged me to keep trying, and to also come to groups. I started to come to our weekly community meeting and form connections with people. Feeling responsible for making decisions helps to ground me, helps me feel like I belong. It's also about feeling that what I have to say matters. I feel like I am currently doing well for myself. I'm in therapy consistently, coming to groups and enjoying them, making jokes again, and just being me—an open book. I am still nervous about life after CHT, but I know that through the support here, I will be ready when the time is right". The importance of community meetings Community meetings are weekly meetings where residents and staff come together to make decisions around the running of the community, democratically as a group. They are an important way to build trust, address conflict, share information and facilitate building positive, supportive relationships with peers. Community meetings are a core principle of the Therapeutic Community model , an evidence-based approach that empowers residents to develop life and social skills through daily activities and the management of the community. Learn more about life in our communities .

On Tuesday, 16 September, our CEO, Dr Peter Cockersell and Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Dr Sione Marshall, launched their new book, ' Implementing Psychologically Informed Environments and Trauma Informed Care: Leadership Perspectives ' . The online discussion with chapter authors focused on experiences leading the implementation of Psychological Informed Environments (PIE) and Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) in service provision across the NHS, local authorities, and the nonprofit sector, with presentations from the fields of mental health, youth services, domestic abuse, and homelessness. Watch the full event online, complete with Q&A, and subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed about future events.

This week, CHT staff members attended the annual TCTC conference in Hertfordshire, which provided a fantastic opportunity for practitioners working within the Therapeutic Communities field and related sectors to connect and share thoughts, ideas, and examples of good practice. From left, CHT staff members, Dr Sue Mizen, Emma Pyle, Paul Heseltine, Quayat Shaikh, Dr Peter Cockersell, Iwona Munia, Desrine Amoah and Nathalia Bosoko The conference kicked off with a day on Children and Young People, with organisations including The Mulberry Bush, Birribi and Hearts and Heads sharing their insights and experiences in creating supportive environments for young people. On the second day, the theme was the role of Therapeutic Communities in the justice sector. Discussions on topics including Psychologically Informed Planned Environments (PIPEs) and Enabling Environments, led by organisations including Nottingham Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, HMP Gartree and other organisations working within the justice sector. The final day focused on Adult Mental Health. Presentations featured Essex University, the team at Cassel Hospital, and insights into developing a bicultural Therapeutic Community in Wellington, Aotearoa, New Zealand. On day three, Qayanat Shaikh, CHT Therapeutic Practitioner, gave a candid presentation titled 'Parallel Pathways", which explored the parallel journeys that are ever so present in each community for every member of staff and resident alike - journeys of self-discovery. For Qayanat, this was self-discovery and development of her as a Therapeutic Practitioner and what to do when experiencing vicarious trauma. Qayanat's journey was not a lonely one (although at times it might have felt like that); she took it alongside staff and residents. The voices of residents were shared throughout Qayant's presentation, through quotes about their thoughts and reflections on their own journeys.   Feedback included; "Qayanat's presentation was highly emotive and engaging. Thank you, Qayanat, and Residents of Lilias Gillies House" Another inspiring presentation was by the 2025 Elly Jansen Award Winner, Marilyn Ruttley, a senior caseworker with expertise in attachment, trauma, and therapeutic communities, and is also an Expert by Experience speaker. Dr Peter Cockersell and Marilyn Ruttley Marilyn presented the findings from her article " I had skills to offer; I wasn't just a patient ", which through personal experiences, interviews, and focus group discussions with four former patients of a therapeutic community, found that involving people with lived experience in research can improve confidence and skill development and act as both an educational and psychosocial intervention alongside traditional therapeutic approaches. Dr Peter Cockersell, CHT CEO, proudly presented Marilyn with her prize and announced the deadline for next year's The Elly Jansen Award, which will be on Sunday, 3rd May 2026 (watch this space for more details!) Our Head of Development, Iwona Munia, summarised the event beautifully, saying: "The TCTC conference was a very enriching, very thought-provoking event. I found it so valuable to hear about other organisations' models and frameworks of practice. There were also lots of brilliant opportunities to get involved in experiential learning through workshops. The evening's entertainment was brilliant too, with live music, sharing of poems and an Alice in Wonderland themed quiz! We cannot wait for next year".