Our history

1910s and 1920s

1914 - 1918 1919 1920 1920s 1929

The First World Dr. Crichton-Miller After struggling to find a landlord willing to let The Tavi establishes itself as The Tavistock Square Clinic is formally incorpo-
War. Influenced organises a meeting to it, the Tavistock Square Clinic for Functional a psychotherapy centre for rated. Crichton-Miller had originally concieved
by the new of supporters and Nervous Disorders opens in a house at 51 traumatised and neurotic of the Tavistock as a model that would quickly
psychology donors. They create Tavistock Square in central London (it was children and adults. It forges be copied elsewhere, and had thus thought of
emanating from the Tavistock Insti- originally to be just the ‘Tavistock Clinic’, but the strong links with other pro- the Tavistock Square Clinic itself as a
Vienna & Zurich, tute of Medical Psy- General Post Office had complained that this fessional organisations, and temporary measure. By the late 1920s,
Dr Hugh Crichton- chology and pledge was confusing). It soon became known to most begins to receive referrals however, it was clear that this was not
Miller, a neurolo- £300 a year for as ‘the Tavi’. The building is furnished with from distinguished and often happening, so the clinic was incorporated on 5
gist, develops three years to donated items from the (mostly voluntary staff more orthodox institutions. August 1929. After this the running of the
pioneering establish a clinic on members and their friends and family. A waiting list quickly devel- clinic was formalised, with paid administration
psychotherapeutic a trial basis and ops, & the validity of psycho- staff hired and modest, means-tested fees
methods of make Crichton- Part of Crichton-Miller’s vision was to therapy as a form of introduced for patients.
treating shell- Miller’s vision a de-medicalise patient’s experience, so there were treatment is increasingly
shocked and reality. no beds, no medical equipment and no white being recognised. A second building is acquired and used as a
neurotic soldiers. coats. This was highly unusual at the time, and it hostel for patients who lived too far away to
He becomes Assuming that remains a feature of the trust today that it does Training is a key part of the attend regularly. It houses 14 patients at any
convinced of the psychotherapeutic not feel like a medical institution, and one Tavistock’s work from early one time & functions as an early example of a
need to establish clinics would soon cannot easily tell staff from patients. on, though it is initially ‘therapeutic community’.
a clinic providing open in larger informal. 389 lectures are
similar services to hospitals, the clinic The first patient, a child, is seen on 27 given in the first 7 years. An extension appeal is launched to acquire
civilians of limited is to open on a trial September 1920, prompting Crichton-Miller to larger premises and to endow the Tavistock
means. basis. Crichton- say that his ‘dream has come true’. It is one of Institute of Medical Psychology.
Miller is appointed the first outpatient psychotherapy clinics in
honorary Medical Britain, and predates the establishment of child The Joint Committee of the National Council
Director. guidance clinics by some years. for Mental Hygiene and the Tavistock Square
Clinic is established, and organises the first
mental health conference in Britain in the
same year.
 1930s

1930s 1930 1931 1933 1935 1936 1937 1939

Training becomes more The 1930 Men- The Psychopathic Clinic (later the Hugh Crichton- Carl Jung The first The The Second World War
organised. In the early tal Treatment Portman Clinic) is founded as the Miller resigns as gives a week- research Tavistock’s breaks out. Arrangements
1930s the Tavi sets up a Act was clinical arm of the Institute for Medical Director long series of fellow- residential had already been made to
pioneering course for so- passed, signify- the Study and Treatment of and is replaced by lectures at the ship at hostel closes evacute, and on the first day
cial workers in mental ing a new era Delinquency. The Institute had the Deputy Tavistock. the Tavi – the clinic of the war the staff move
health, helping to estab- of British psy- been founded by a group of psy- Director, John is en- now has so most of the clinical records &
lish psychiatric social work chiatry. It choanalysts, including Edward Rawlings Rees. A follow-up dowed many some furniture to the halls of
as a profession in the UK. addressed and Glover and Kate Friedlander. study to by the patients it is residence of Westfield
Two clinical tutors are vindicated They are inspired by the work of The Children’s assess results Rocker- impossible to Women’s College in
appointed and begin many of Crich- Grace Pailthorpe, who applied Department is of treatment feller put up all Hampstead. The clinic never
holding weekly post- ton-Miller’s psychoanalytic ideas to her work renamed the is launched. Founda- those from closes during the war. A core
graduate seminars. The ideas, for in women’s prisons after WWI. The Tavi is tion. outside of staff not fighting move in,
Children & Par-
course in clinical psychol- example the Its early Vice-Presidents included one of the London. sleeping in the student rooms
ogy for child guidance economic Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, H. G. ents Department first institu- The Tavi at night and seeing patients
staff becomes an official benefits of a Wells and other distinguished in recognition of tions to carry reverts The Psycho- in them during the day. Most
course of the University of population in figures. The aims of the clinic the clinic’s policy out such to its pathic Clinic of the furniture and commit-
London, bringing the good mental from the start were thorough of treating research. original and the Insti- tee records are put into
long-standing goal of be- health, & the assessment, diagnosis and re- parents as well as storage and later lost in
name, tute for the
coming a recognised post- importance of search. While the majority of the children, and its A formal bombing. With no funds to
graduate training institu- preventative Portman’s theory and treatment the Study and pay staff, most of them carry
aim to supervision
tion one step closer. LSE psychiatry is psychoanalytic, it is multidisci- Tavistock Treatment of on unpaid. Clinical staff pool
“understand the process is
students also begin at- (promoted by plinary from the start, working Clinic. Delinquency the money they earn from
child as the father established –
tending the Tavistock for the growing with social workers and (as it is now private practice to help staff
practical work in the so- ‘mental hy- psychologists. of the man and all clinical staff returning from the war &
called) secure
cial casework department. giene’ move- the parents as now have a contribute to the clinic’s over-
their own
ment, which The Tavistock’s Extension Fund conditioning the supervision heads.
premises at 8
Patient numbers increase was pioneered acquires new premises in Malet new generation of session with a
fast – by 1931 there is a by Clifford Street, Bloomsbury. These Portman Centres for the treatment of
children”, at that colleague
long waiting list, which Beers in the US provide more space and facilities Street. The war neuroses are set up,
time an unusual after 50
has to be closed and the and with which such as a lecture theatre, clinic changes including one at Stanbor-
approach (Dicks). sessions with
most urgent patients pri- the Tavistock canteen and playroom in the its name to oughs Hydro, where Hugh
oritised in order to pre- quickly became Children’s Department. a patient. Crichton-Miller becomes
the Portman
serve the quality of the associated). Medical Director.
Clinic.
service.
1940s

1940 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949

After being Through the The war ends. As head The clinic begins J. R. Rees The National Health Service comes Training expands. The Royal
close to work in the of army psychiatry training and resigns, and into being. The Tavistock Institute of Medico-Psychological Associa-
bankruptcy army, clinic during the war, J. R. supplying family J. D. Sutherland Human Relations (TIHR) legally tion (now Royal College of
and unable staff begin Rees and the group therapists to work becomes the separates from the Tavistock Clinic, Psychiatrists) recognises the
to pay staff, to build around him (including in other types of new Medical while remaining part of the same Tavistock as an official
the financial stronger Wilfred Bion) had done institutions, such Director and umbrella organisation. This means it training centre for the
situation links with pioneering work on as nurseries or head of the is able to earn fees to support Diploma in Psychological
improves the field of preventative psychiatry obstetrics units. Adult training and research in the whole Medicine. The Home Office
with an psychoanaly- based around morale, Department. organisation, as well as the approaches the Tavistock to
unexpected sis. A officer-troop relations John Bowlby John Bowlby Institute’s group relations work. The provide training for probation
legacy of meeting is and selection becomes head of becomes Tavistock Clinic becomes part of the workers, trainee clinical
£14,000. held with procedures. After the the Children & Deputy Medical new health service, providing clinical psychologist posts are
John Bowlby war this develops into Parents Director. services under the administration of established, and courses for
The and John the Tavistock’s new Department. the North West Metropolitan GPs resume. A joint Tavistock
Tavistock’s Rickman to focus on group A quarterly Regional Hospital Board. Clinic – TIHR training panel is
training discuss relations & social Group therapy journal, Human established.
possible co- psychiatry. begins to be used Relations, is Similarly, the Portman Clinic
receives
operation. and gains in published becomes part of the NHS, while the The Association of Child Psy-
official The clinic acquires a jointly by the Institute for the Study and Treatment chotherapy is formed, linking
popularity.
approval new building at 2 Tavistock Clinic of Delinquency remains independ- the Tavistock with the other
from the Beaumont Street and The government and the ent. The organisations formally early training bodies in the
University of moves in in August asks the Tavistock Tavistock Insti- separate but continue living in the field.
London, a 1945. At the inaugura- to prepare a re- tute of Human same building.
long-held tion, a £22,000 grant port on the Relations. An The staff newsletter is first
from the Rockerfeller scientific and in-house At the Tavistock, the Adult published.
goal.
Foundation to develop social implications publishers is set Department is reorganised into two
work in social and of the mental up, Tavistock units. Both Adult and C & P
preventative psychiatry. health element of Publications Departments refine their assessment
A new division, the the new National (click here for a procedures and hone the model of
Tavistock Institute of Health Service Bill. list of extensive assessments of new
Human Relations, is publications). patients by a fully multi-disciplinary
created to carry on this team.
new work.
1950s

1950s 1954 1956 1959

Important research work begins coming out of the Tavistock. The Tavistock The Family Discussion Bureau The Adolescent Unit is created,
Particularly influential is work by Michael Balint & John Bowlby. Association is becomes part of the TIHR. led by Derek Miller and Dugmore
Balint’s research on the relationship between GP and patient has founded to Hunter. Read more about adoles-
a profound influence on the training and practice of GPs. facilitate The clinic’s adminstration is cent services
Bowlby's work on attachment theory is widely regarded as co-operation and transferred from the NWMRHB
amongst the most important work in developmental psychology. integration to the Paddington Group, which It is originally housed in rented
between the premises in Hallam Street.
already governs the Child
Systemic Family Therapy begins to develop, focusing on the Tavistock Clinic
and the TIHR. Guidance Training Centre and
interaction between children, adolescents and parents within the Portman Clinic.
families. Although from the very start parents had been seen
alongside children, it is only during the 1950s that family therapy
begins to evolve into a separate discipline. The Tavistock is
pioneering in this field, and later offers some of the first family
therapy training.
 1960s

1960s 1961 1965 1967 1968

During the 1960s the Tavistock Clinic becomes more inte- The Portman The foundation The new building (the current John Bowlby retires as head of
grated with British psychiatry, and with the wider mental organises a major stone of the home of the Tavistock & Children & Parents after 22
health movement. Two ex-Tavi staff become Medical Direc- conference as part new building Portman NHS Foundation years. He is succeeded by
tors of the National Association for Mental Health. A section of World Mental on Belsize Lane Trust) is opened in May 1967 Marion McKenzie.
for psychotherapy and social psychiatry is established within Health Year, leading is laid by J. R. by HRH Princess Marina.
the Royal Medico-Psychological Association. Relations with to the publication of Rees. A new system is introduced
the psychoanalytic movement also become much closer, Sexual Deviation, a Along with the Tavistock where the Chair of the
with many psychoanalysts now at the Tavistock (although it key text in the field. Clinic (including the new Professional Committee is
is generally the less orthodox psychoanalysts who wish to Adolescent Unit) and the elected by a ballot of all
work in the multidiscplinary environment of the Tavistock). TIHR, the Child Guidance professional staff. The title of
Training Centre (completely Medical Director is dropped, but
Despite these increasing links with the mental health field, independent from the later reinstated.
the Tavi remained somewhat idiosyncratic, especially in its Tavistock) also moves in to
commitment to a community-centred approach. This is best the building. It is nicknamed J. D. Sutherland resigns as Chair
expressed in the continuing expansion of training to other ‘The Freud Hilton’ by staff. of the Professional Committee
professions – doctors, teachers, health visitors, probation (and head of the clinic) and is
workers and so on. The Young People’s
replaced by Robert H. Gosling.
Consultation Centre in
The Tavistock begins to devise more reliable methods for Hampstead merges with the
assessing therapeutic processes, and particularly the effects Adolescent Unit and moves
of psychotherapy versus other treatments. into Belsize Lane. This
enables the unit to offer a
Regular research seminars begin, open to all clinical staff and 24-hour walk-in service. Links
visitors. are also established with
Southfields, a new adolescent
International links are built on. Many Tavi staff lecture or inpatient centre in Hendon.
train abroad, and the clinic recieves many international
visitors, lecturers and trainees.
1970s and 1980s

1970 1980s 1982 1983 1985

The Portman Clinic moves to The first clinical family therapy training The is established as an The Portman Clinic The Child Guidance
its current location on begins, one of the first courses of its kind. independent charity to support and celebrates its 50th Training Centre
Fitzjohns Avenue. promote the Tavistock Clinic and its anniversary with an becomes part of the
The first ever doctorate in systemic family values, and to fundraise and international Children & Parents
Its staff by now include therapy is later offered jointly by the advocate for mental health work in inter-disciplinary Department. The Mul-
Psychiatric Social Workers, Tavistock and the general. conference, berry Bush Day Unit,
Clinical Psychologists, University of East London. Understanding the which is part of the
Consultant Psychotherapists The foundation’s achievements Violent Individual. CGTC, also becomes
and a Consultant Physician. In the late 1980s the Portman is among the include supporting the part of the Tavistock.
first mental health institutions to create establishment of the Psychotherapy
non-medical adult psychotherapy posts. Outcome Research & Evaluation Anton Obholzer
Unit & the world’s first professorial becomes Chair of the
A series of workshops, Consulting to chair in Child Psychotherapy. Professional Committee
Institutions is set up by Anton Obholzer,
which later informs the work of the
Tavistock Consultancy Service.
1990s

1991 1994 1996 1999

The Portman Clinic plays a The Tavistock becomes an independent NHS trust, The Gender Identity Development The BBC films a six-part series, The
leading role in establishing the achieving trust status in the fourth wave of applications. Unit becomes a part of the Talking Cure, at the trust, based on
International Association for At the same time the Tavistock joins forces with the Tavistock & Portman NHS Trust. It the Tavistock’s clinical work.
Forensic Psychotherapy. Estela Portman Clinic, and the new trust becomes the was founded in 1989 by Domenico
Welldon of the Portman Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust. Anton Obholzer Di Ceglie in the Department of Maggie Wakelin-Saint becomes the
becomes its first President. It becomes Chief Executive of the new trust. Child Psychiatry at trust’s new Chair.
has since held 14 international Tony Vinehall, previously of Unilever, becomes the Chair St Georges Hospital. It remains the
conferences with considerable of the Trust Board. only service in the UK offering
involvement from Portman multidisciplinary support to young
staff. For the first time, a training contract is negotiated with people with gender identity
the NHS alongside the contract for clinical services. This problems.
is a key development in the Tavistock’s evolution as a
recognised national training centre in mental health.

For the first time, social workers are employed directly

by the Tavistock, funded by the NHS.

The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations moves to

new premises in central London.
2000 - present

2001 2002 2003 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

A Centre for The trust, together Systemic Psychother- Matthew Patrick is The trust The trust wins a Nick Temple The trust
Mental Health with the University apy is recognised as appointed Trust achieves contract to retires as wins another
in Nursing is of East London, one of the trust’s Clinical Director – a foundation trust become the main Chief major
set up jointly appoints a Chair in official disciplines. new post akin to status in the first provider of tier 2 Executive, contract to
with Middlesex Child Psychother- the old position of wave of CAMHS services in and is provide adult
University to apy – the first of This completes the Chair of the applications, Camden. This succeeded psychothera-
provide new its kind. current list of six Professional after an intense allows the by Matthew peutic
training pro- official disciplines at Committee. and challenging provision of in- Patrick. services to
grammes in The Northern the trust: application creasingly innova- City & Hack-
nursing. School of Child Child Psychotherapy; Nicholas Selby process. It is one tive and integrated Louise Lyons ney PCT,
Psychotherapy is Medical and succeeds Maggie of the first tier 2 and 3 becomes which again
also launched in Psychiatry; Nursing; Wakelin-Saint as mental health services to Cam- the new will allow
Leeds, providing Psychology; Social trusts to do so. den residents. Trust increasingly
Chair of the Trust
training to the Work; and Systemic Clinical innovative
whole of the Psychotherapy. Board. This can be seen in services.
Director, the
north, and the the context of a first non-
director is broader shift in psychiatrist
appointed jointly approach towards to hold the
with the trust. increasingly post.
multi-modal forms
The trust is one of of psychological
the first five therapies.
organisations in
London to achieve The first Nursing
Improving Work- Director is
ing Lives status. appointed, Dr Neil
Brimblecombe.
Anton Obholzer
retires and is
succeeded as Chief
Executive by Nick
Temple.
History of Research

Research has been a key element of the Tavistock’s work since its inception, and ‘no research without therapy and no therapy without research’ part
of the clinic’s doctrine from its early years. In Hugh Crichton-Miller’s first annual report after the clinic opened in 1920, he asked for funds to pursue
research so that the Tavi could not only alleviate symptoms but research causes of disorders, & thus contribute to prevention of mental health
problems.

The clinic’s first major research project was launched in 1935 – a follow-up study to assess the results of treatment 3 years after discharge. It is one of
the first such studies to be done, though this sort of work is now routine in any mental health institution. The results were compared at discharge
and 3 years later, and findings split by gender and class, amongst other variables.

In 1936 the first research fellowships were established at the Tavistock Clinic. First Dr A. T. Macbeth Wilson became the Rockerfeller Fellow, working
on psychological and social causes of peptic ulcer. Then, in the same year, Dr Eric Wittkower became the Sir Halley Stewart Fellow, working on
similar psychosomatic method. They developed considerable research links with other institutions, particularly hospitals.

During the Second World War, almost all training and research has to stop in order to continue clinical services. After the war, new thinking on
group relations leads to the setting up of the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations. When the NHS is created in 1948, TIHR becomes separate. It is
thus able to earn fees & support research across the organisation, while the clinical arm of the organisation is publicly funded.

During the 1960s the Tavistock’s research arm develops considerably. Methods are honed and standardised; weekly research seminars, open to all
clinical staff, begin. John Bowlby and Jock Sutherland define the Tavistock’s 3 main areas of clinical research – psychodynamic & therapeutic
processes, the detection & assessment of pathological family process and the pathological sequelae of loss.

There have been many positive developments and successes in research in recent years. One notable success has been the launch of the
Psychotherapy Outcome Research and Evaluation Unit (PERU), whose Adult Depression Study will be the first randomised controlled trial of
psychoanalytic psychotherapy in the treatment of refactory depression. More recently the systemic psychotherapy group at the Tavistock has been
granted research centre status and funding by the University of East London. The new research centre should contribute substantially to research in
the systemic field, particularly through the creation of a database of all family therapy research.
References

H. V. Dicks, Fifty Years of the Tavistock Clinic; Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1970.
Edward Shorter, A Historical Dictionary of Psychiatry, Oxford University Press, 2005.
Interviews with past and present Tavistock staff.