A lack of concrete records, documents and general awareness surrounding therapeutic communities makes it vital to give a voice to this heritage as well as building up a picture of these places and the people involved. By building a spoken record archive, the all-important human element of this history will be preserved and in turn, will raise awareness and understanding of these communities, enabling others to learn from and connect with them.
By interviewing and recording the people who have direct, first hand knowledge of this field, (our collections include the accounts of former children or staff; members of existing communities; associated professionals, psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, social workers, to name but a few groups) we are preserving the ideas, experiences and learnings and creating a valuable resource to better our understanding now and in the future.
http://web.archive.org/web/20140224074415/http://www.pettrust.org.uk/oral-history/blog