The Charterhouse Group

Soon after I became Principal in 1985, I was invited to an informal gathering of people in charge of therapeutic communities.
Melvyn Rose and Mike Jinks were the conveners of this meeting and it took place at the Peper Harow Foundation’s office in Charterhouse Square (the reason behind the name of this group).
It came at a time when local government spending was severely restricted by central government and all independent providers felt under threat.
Despite the fact that these therapeutic communities were rivals there was an overriding feeling that there was more to be gained by coming together to promote the work of therapeutic communities in a difficult climate.

This first informal meeting lead to others before the decision was taken to formalise things with a constitution etc, and a name – The Charterhouse Group.

In the early 1990s we started the tradition of meeting for an overnight stay at Old Jordans in Buckinghamshireand the photographs below show the group that met in June 1998.