“For decades, the Tavistock’s work has helped shape how we see ourselves, as persons and as a society. Much thinking that has entered the mainstream emerged from its challenging, interdisciplinary research and practice”

Hilary Mantel

History of the Tavistock and Portman

Hugh Crichton-Miller becomes the first Clinical Director of the Tavistock Clinic

Hugh Crichton-Miller

In 1919,  Hugh Crichton-Miller was elected as the honorary Medical Director of the Tavistock Clinic. The election took place at a meeting in the drawing-room of Lady Margaret Nicholson in Pont Street.

The founding of the Tavistock Clinic

51 Tavistock Square illustration

The Tavistock Clinic, or Tavi as it is more colloquially known, was founded  on 27 September in 1920 by Hugh Crichton-Miller. In the beginning it was the home of a small band of seven doctors. In addition to Hugh Crichton-Miller, the Honorary Director, there was: Dr JA Hadfield, Dr Mary..Read More

The Tavistock Clinic sees its first patient

51 Tavistock Square illustration

The Tavistock Clinic saw its first patient, a child, on 27 September in 1920. The first patient  was seen by Dr Hamilton Pearson on 27 September 1920 and this is where we take the date of our founding from. The second patient was an adult and was seen by Mary..Read More

Grace Pailthorpe starts her research into criminology

Grace Pailthorpe

In 1922, Grace Pailthorpe began her study of women offenders in Birmingham Prison under Britain’s first criminologist, Dr M. Hamblin-Smith. This work was later extended to Holloway Prison in London and other institutions.

The mid-20s

Tavistock Clinic Lecture Theatre 1920

During the 1920s the Tavistock Clinic grew. Speech Therapy and Social Work were added to the services provided by the Clinic and towards the end of the decade a hostel was opened for patients from outside London. Education and training at the Clinic grew at a considerable rate. In the..Read More

The London Child Guidance Training Centre is established

William Moodie

In 1928 the London Child Guidance Training Centre was established by Dr William Moodie, of the Maudsley Hospital, with funding from the Commonwealth Fund of New York. A short history of child guidance in England: long-read

The Tavistock Clinic opens a residential hostel

In 1929 the Tavistock Clinic acquired a nearby Bloomsbury house and opened a hostel for patients who lived too far for regular attendance. The hostel was under the medical supervision of EA Bennet and run by Muriel Payne.

The London Child Guidance Training Centre opens its first clinic

In 1929 the London Child Guidance Training Centre (CGTC) obtained premises at the Tudor Lodge, 1 Canonbury Place, Islington and opened their clinic in July 1929 with Lady Lawrence as the president and Cyril Burt as the vice president. Dr. William Moodie was its first director and Lucy Fildes its..Read More

Not enough space

Tavistock Institute of Medical Psychology

By the end of the 1920s the building on Tavistock Square was no longer big enough. JR Rees, who had been deputy director since 1926, established an extension fund, called the Tavistock Institute of Medical Psychology, to raise money for new premises and on 9 August 1929 it was formally..Read More

The Tavistock Clinic becomes the Tavistock Institute of Medical Psychology

In 1930 the Tavistock Clinic changed its name to the Tavistock Institute of Medical Psychology. The name change was part of a strategy to move more into the field off education.

The founding of the ASTC

Grace Pailthorpe illustration

On 22nd July 1931 Grace Pailthorpe formed the Association for the Scientific Treatment of Criminals (ASTC), which subsequently became the Institute for the Scientific Treatment of Delinquency (ISTD). Along with Grace Pailthorpe the other founders of the ASTC were: Dr M. Hamblin-Smith, Dr David Eder, Dr Edward Glover, Dr James..Read More

The Portman’s Vice-Presidents

Sigmund Freud

When the ISTD was founded, a number of important and influential Vice-Presidents were recruited who could guarantee the status of the society and attract public attention. Early Vice-Presidents included: Professor Alfred Adler, Professor (later Sir) Cyril Burt, The Countess De la Warr, Havelock Ellis, Professor Sigmund Freud, Cardinal Griffin, Sir..Read More

The Tavistock Clinic moves to Torrington Place and Malet Place

Malet Place 1932

In November 1932 the Tavistock Clinic moved into a new building on the corner of Torrington Place and Malet Place. It was positioned alongside the University of London and renamed the Tavistock Institute of Medical Psychology. The building had previously been the stables for a Tottenham Court Road department store,..Read More

The ASTD becomes the ISTD

8 Portman St 1938

In a meeting at Dr Jensen’s flat at 56 Grosvenor St, London on 29 November 1932 Dr Jennings White proposed that the name of the organisation be changed from the Association for the Scientific Treatment of Criminals (ASTC) to the Institute for the Scientific Treatment of Delinquency (ISTD), which went..Read More

JR Rees becomes Medical Director of the Tavistock Clinic

JR Rees

JR assumed the leadership of the Tavistock Clinic as Medical Director in 1933, after Hugh Crichon-Miller’s resignation. Hugh Crichton-Miller’s resignation as Director followed a heated argument with JR Rees over the appointment of JA Hadfield as a Director of Training.

The founding of the Portman

The West End Hospital for Nervous Diseases

The Portman Clinic was founded by Edward Glover in 1933 as the ‘Psychopathic Clinic’, with a consulting room n the West End Hospital for Nervous Diseases at 73 Welbeck Street. On 18 September they saw their first patient: ‘a woman, 47 years of age, noted as having a violent temper,..Read More

Wilfred Bion joins the Tavistock Clinic

Wilfred Bion

In 1932 Wilfred Bion joined the Tavistock Clinic. He was part of a new generation of recruits at the Tavi. This cohort also included: Leonard Browne, HV Dicks, Mary Luff and Charles Berg. Several of these came under the influence of JA Hadfield, who at that time was responsible for..Read More

Wilfred Bion’s analysis of Samuel Becket

Samuel Beckett

Samuel Beckett was Wilfred Bion’s first case at the Tavistock Clinic. The analysis, which began in 1934, was difficult, lasted for nearly two years and had a profound reciprocal influence on both men. Beckett had come to London for analysis, because it was illegal in Ireland at the time. He..Read More

Carl Jung lectures at the Tavistock Clinic

Carl Jung

In 1935 Carl Jung gave a weeklong series of lectures at the Tavistock Clinic.

The Tavistock Clinic starts to get University recognition

In the mid-1930s the Tavistock Clinic started to gain limited University recognition for its non-medical courses. This was led by social work in particular and  the courses with the London School of Economics.

Mary Luff publishes the Tavistock’s first follow-up study

Mary Luff undertook the first follow-up study assessing the results of treatment  at the Tavistock Clinic three years after discharge. This  pioneering survey seeking to provide an evidence base for the work of the clinic was published in the British Medical Journal on 13 July 1935. The figures showed that overall..Read More

The first research fellowship at the Tavistock Clinic is endowed

In 1936 the Rockefeller Foundation and the Sir Halley Stewart Trust awarded research grants to the Tavistock Clinic. ATM Wilson became the Rockefeller Fellow and Eric Wittkower the Sir Halley Stewart Fellow. ATM Wilson studied the psychological and social aspects of peptic ulcers . Eric Wittkower collaborated with  St Bart’s..Read More

The Tavistock Clinic reverts to its original name

In 1936, after six years of calling ourselves the Institute of Medical Psychology we reverted to our old name. The ‘Tavistock Clinic’ name had proved to have such popular common usage that it was futile to fight it. However, in recognition of JR Rees dream of the future, the sub-title..Read More

The Tavistock goes to war

JR Rees in the military

On 1 September 1939 Hitler’s tanks rolled into Poland and World War 2 began. JR Rees was appointed as consultant psychiatrist to the Army at Home, responsible for the mental health of approximately three million people. Many key figures from the Tavistock Clinic joined him in the army, becoming what..Read More

The Tavistock Clinic on the home front

Westfield College in Hampstead

As with many organisations, the war years were a test of survival for the Tavistock Clinic. The story for those who did not join up was very different to those who did. The Tavistock Clinic was evacuated to the Westfield Women’s College in Hampstead on 3 September 1939 and during..Read More

The Tavistock Clinic in the Blitz

The original Tavistock Clinic at 51 Tavistock Square waas destroyed during the Blitz

In 1940 the Germans began an intense bombing campaign against industrial targets in Britain. On 7 September they changed their strategy and the Blitz came to London. The Tavi’s move to Hampstead justified itself as 51 Tavistock Square was reduced to pavement level. Then in the spring of 1941 the..Read More

The Portman is bombed during the Blitz

The Portman Clinic in the Blitz

On 19 September 1940, The Portman Clinic destroyed and Portman Street closed after being bombed during the Blitz.

The Portman moves to Manchester Street

Manchester Street

On November 1940, ISTD and Portman Clinic moved to 17 Manchester Street after its original premises were destroyed in the Blitz.

Edward Glover and the ‘Controversial Discussions’

Melanie Klein

Melanie Klein’s influence on British psychoanalysis had begun in the mid-1920s. British analysts who went to Berlin for analysis with Abraham or Sachs were the first to hear of her work with children . This included Edward Glover, his brother James and Ernest Jones. Jones was hesitant about her work..Read More

Michael Balint joins the Tavistock Clinic

Michael Balint

In 1944 Michael Balint joined the Tavistock Clinic. Balint was a Hungarian refugee who had fled the Nazis in 1935, moving to Manchester, where he was director of the Child Guidance Clinic. He was a key figure in setting up the Family Discussion Bureau (now Tavistock Relationships). He developed ‘focal..Read More

Operation Phoenix

Wilfred Bion

After the war a new Interim Medical Committee was elected by the whole of the staff with Wilfred Bion as Chair to take the Tavistock Clinic forward. Under Bion’s leadership ‘Operation Phoenix’ was put into action. Radical democratic processes were instituted in the way that the Clinic was run that..Read More

The Portman Clinic moves to 8 Bourdon Street

8 Bourdon Street

In May 1946 the ISTD and Psychopathic Clinic moved to 8 Bourdon Street.

John Bowlby joins the Tavistock Clinic

In 1946 John Bowlby joined the Tavistock Clinic. He was recruited from the army, where he had been one of the ‘invisible college’ under JR Rees command. Bowlby was appointed head of the Department for Children and Parents and Deputy Director of the Clinic.

Jock Sutherland becomes Director of the Tavistock Clinic

Jock Sutherland becomes Director of the Tavistock Clinic

Jock Sutherland (1905 to 1991) joined the Tavistock Clinic in 1946 and became Medical Director in 1947, overseeing our transition into the NHS in 1948 and one of the most dynamic phases of the clinic’s history.

The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations

TIHR

The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations (TIHR) germinated as an idea in the period immediately after World War 2. It came into being in 1946. JR Rees suggested that the TIHR should be created as a separate department but as the Clinic prepared to join the NHS it became clear..Read More

Tavistock Publications

Tavistock Press logo

On 28 October 1947 Tavistock Publications was launched with JD Sutherland, ATM Wilson and John Harvard Watts as the original Directors. It was staffed by TS Fairly, Frank Frost (general editor), and John Harvard Watts (promotion). Tavistock Publications took over the publication of the TIHR’s quarterly journal, Human Relations, and..Read More

The Family Discussion Bureau is established

Enid Balint

In 1948 the Family Discussion Bureau, a forerunner of today’s Tavistock Relationships, was founded by Enid Balint, with the help of Lily Pincus and Alison Lyons.

Denis Carroll appointed as Medical Director of the Portman Clinic

Dr Denis Carroll

In 1946 Denis Carroll was appointed as Medical Director of the Portman Clinic alongside Dr Rubinstein

July 1948, the Portman joins the NHS

On 5 July 1948 the Portman joined the NHS and changed its name from the Psychopathic Clinic to the Portman Clinic. The  ISTD and the Portman became separate organisations, though they both remained at Bourdon Street and initially largely consisted of the same staff. The Portman Clinic came under the..Read More

The Tavistock Clinic Joins the NHS

NHS 1948

In July 1948 the Tavistock Clinic entered the NHS, coming under the Central Middlesex Group Hospital Management Committee of the North-west Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board. Joining the NHS exposed the Tavistock Clinic to a much larger and wider patient group. However, sacrifices had to be made as it was primarily..Read More

Edward Glover speaks to the Royal Commission on Capital Punishment

Edward Glover

On 20 January 1949, the Prime Minister, Clement Atlee, announced to Parliament that the King had approved the setting up of a Royal Commission on Capital Punishment, under the Chairmanship of Sir Ernest Gowers. The Commission, comprising 10 men and two women, had 63 meetings over four years. It took..Read More

The British Journal of Delinquency

The British Journal of Delinquency

In July 1950 the ISTD issued the first edition of The British Journal of Delinquency. Dr Edward Glover, Dr Hermann Mannheim and Dr Emanuel Miller were the editors.

A period of innovation

a two year old goes to hospital

During the late 40s and 1950s the Tavistock Clinic produced some of its most influential work. Bion initially continued to work on group dynamics, before his analysis under Melanie Klein led him back to working with individuals and developing concepts such as ‘containment’. Bowlby gradually developed ‘Attachment Theory’. This was..Read More

The early 1950s

Michael Balint

In 1954 in Britain institutionalisation was still the main method for dealing with mental illness. There were 154,000 patients in asylums, which were overcrowded and underfunded. These contained 40 per cent of the NHS inpatient beds, but received only 20 per cent of the hospital budget. The second half of..Read More

The Wolfenden Committee

Edward Glover

In August 1954 the Government set up the Wolfenden Committee, named after its chairman, John Wolfenden. Its report was published 5 September 1957 and recommended that homosexual acts between two consenting adults should no longer be a criminal offence. Edward Glover and Denis Carroll presented to the committee on behalf..Read More

The Family Discussion Bureau joins the TIHR

In 1956 the Family Discussion Bureau transferred from the Family Welfare Association to the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations.

The Leicester Conferences

In 1957, the Tavistock Institute launched its first full scale experiment in group relations in partnership with the University of Leicester. Leicester conferences continue to this day and are replicated all over the world, including several times a year within the Tavistock and Portman. The original concept of the Leicester Conference..Read More

The Adolescent Department

Henry Dugmore Hunter

In 1959, a pilot Adolescent Unit was created, led by Derek Miller and Dugmore Hunter, and in 1960, this became the Adolescent Department which was situated on one floor of a leased building at Hallam Street and was run with the part-time loan of staff from other departments. Originally the..Read More

Enoch Powell visits the Tavistock

Enoch Powell

In 1960 the Tavistock Clinic was visited by Enoch Powell, the then Health Minister, who was impressed by what he saw. The Tavistock Clinic provided a model of non-hospital based care and high quality services integrated multi-disciplinary teams. Not long after, the plans for the Tavistock Clinic’s new building were..Read More

World Mental Health Year 1961

The Portman Clinic organised a two day conference on the pathology and treatment of sexual deviation as part of World Mental Health Year 1961. The papers were collected and published as ‘The Pathology and Treatment of Sexual Deviation’ in 1964, and then republished in 1979 with additional material from Glasser..Read More

David Malan begins to research short-term therapy

David Malan

In the Adult Department, David Malan’s detailed research into short-term therapy had started to show the effectiveness of brief therapy.

The Gender Identity Clinic is founded

The Gender Identity Clinic (GIC) is one of the oldest and largest trans treatment centres in the world. It was founded in 1966 by Dr John Bulmer Randell (1918 to 1982) at Charing Cross Hospital, which at that time was still in the West End. It joined the Tavistock and..Read More

The Tavistock Centre at 120 Belsize Lane opens

Princess opens the Tavistock Centre

In 1965 the foundation stone of the new building at Belsize Lane was laid by JR Rees and on 4 May 1967 it was opened by Princess Marina. The Tavistock Clinic (including the new Adolescent Department, which merged with the Young People’s Consultation Centre in Hampstead), the TIHR (which included..Read More

John Bowlby Retires

John Bowlby

John Bowlby retired as head of Children and Parents in 1968, after 22 years of service and was succeeded by Marion McKenzie.

Bob Gosling becomes head of the Tavistock Clinic

Robert Gosling

After overseeing the move to the new premises JD Sutherland also resigned in 1968, to take up a teaching appointment at the University of Edinburgh. On 1 August 1968, Robert H. Gosling took charge of the Tavistock Clinic under the new title of Chairman of the Professional Committee after winning..Read More

Administrative changes

Robert Gosling

In 1969, the year of the first moon landing, further administrative changes took place within the NHS and the Tavistock Clinic came under the St Charles Hospital Management Committee. Under Robert Gosling’s leadership the Tavistock Clinic flourished once again and went through another period of significant expansion. Throughout his career..Read More

John Bowlby publishes the first book in his attachment trilogy

John Bowlby

Although Bowlby had retired from the Tavistock Clinic, this gave him more time to write and he went on to publish his definitional trilogy on attachment: Attachment (1969), Separation (1973) and Loss (1980). These were hugely influential and brought global attention to what the Tavistock Clinic was doing. Bowlby’s work on attachment remains absolutely foundational..Read More

Child development comes to the fore

Martha Harris

During the 1970s the Department for Children and Parents flourished. Martha Harris also wanted to see the influence of the Tavistock extended. In the mid-70s, believing that child development information should be more widely available for professionals working with children, she initiated the publication of the hugely successful ‘Understanding Your..Read More

The Portman Clinic moves to Fitzjohn’s Avenue

The Portman Clinic, 8 Fitzjohn's Avenue

In  1970 The Portman Clinic moved to its current home at 8 Fitzjohn’s Avenue. For more information on the Portman Clinic read Stanley Ruszczynski’s A brief introduction to the history of the Portman Clinic or The Portman Clinic: An historical sketch

The Tavistock Clinic starts using video

James Robertson and Joyce Robertson

In 1971, an important technical innovation – video – came to the Tavistock Clinic. Initially it was frowned on for clinical work, but James and Joyce Robertson again played a key role in getting it established as an invaluable analytic tool.

Systemic Family Therapy comes to the Tavistock Clinic

Also in the early-1970s, Chris Dare and John Byng-Hall, who had both trained at the Tavistock, in child and adolescent psychiatry, began to develop Systemic Family Therapy. John Byng-Hall initially organised a Family Therapy Workshop in the Adolescent Department and a research group. They invited people from the US to..Read More

Managing stillbirth

In 1976, Emanuel Lewis published ‘The Management of Stillbirth: Coping with an Unreality’. Working from 1968 to the 1990s Lewis and Stanford (Sandy) Bourne highlighted the trauma of stillbirth and its wider impact on families. The disposal of stillborn foetuses, without contact with the parents, remained routine practice until the..Read More

The Core Complex

Dr Mervyn Glasser

At the heart of Glasser’s (1979) concept of the core complex is a universal developmental step which deals with a child’s anxieties of abandonment and engulfment during early separation and individuation from their mother. Faced with this the individual either withdraws, experiencing tremendous isolation and feelings of abandonment, or reacts..Read More

Alexis Brook takes leadership of the Tavistock Clinic

Alexis Brook

In 1979, Robert Gosling retired from the leadership of the Tavistock Clinic, due to his increasing deafness. Alexis Brook took over as Chair of the Professional Committee. Alexis Brook had served under JR Rees in the Royal Army Medical Corps from 1944 to 1947. He trained in psychiatry at the..Read More

Tavistock Institute of Marital Studies separates from TIHR

Tavistock Relationships logo

In 1979 the Tavistock Institute of Marital Studies  separated from the TIHR, becoming an independent company operating under the overarching charity the Tavistock Institute of Medical Psychology.

An era of cuts

At the start of the 1980s, the newly elected Conservative government had come to power with a mandate to reduce public spending. This cut across all areas of public services and the NHS was not exempt. It was against this background that following the Griffiths Report in 1983 the NHS..Read More

The Child Guidance Training Centre merges with the Tavistock

In the mid-1980s the Child Guidance Training Centre (CGTC) , which had been sharing premises with the Tavistock Clinic at Belsize Lane, had its funding cut. The decision was taken to merge the CGTC with the Department for Children and Parents at the Tavistock Clinic and between 1984 and 1985..Read More

Gloucester House Joins the Tavistock Clinic

Gloucester House, or the Day Unit, as it was known at that time under joined the Tavistock Clinic in 1985. It entered as part when the Child Guidance Training Clinic merged with the Tavistock’s Children’s Department to form the Child and Family Department. More on Gloucester House

Anton Obholzer becomes Chief Executive

Anton Obholzer

Alexis Brook stepped down in 1985 and Anton Obholzer took up the leadership of the Tavistock Clinic. A South-African by birth, with Austrian lineage, Anton Obholzer is the only Chief Executive to have worked in every department of the Tavistock Clinic. Working closely together, Rob Hale and Anton Obholzer began..Read More

The Tavistock gets University acreditation

The Seymour Report had stated that although many of the courses at the Tavistock Clinic had professional recognition, training at the Tavistock Clinic also needed academic accreditation. A suitable academic partner had to be found and approaches were made to the University of East London (UEL). The timing was good..Read More

The founding of the Trauma Unit

The Herald of Free Enterprise

Following the sinking of the Herald of Free Enterprise in 1987, two members of the Adult Department went to Dover to offer backup support. This was the first stage in the formation of the Unit for the Study of Trauma and its Aftermath. Eighteen months later a Trauma Unit led..Read More

Estela Welldon publishes ‘Mother, Madonna, Whore’

Estela Welldon

In 1988, Estela Welldon published ‘Mother, Madonna, Whore’ the first book on perversions in women. This seminal work challenged the accepted wisdom that women did not suffer from perversions. Her original ideas sent shockwaves through the psychoanalytic community and the feminist theorist circles of the time.

Estela Welldon drives the creation of the International Association of Forensic Psychology

Estela Welldon

In 1991, Estela Welldon drove the creation of the International Association of Forensic Psychology, and in 1992 international bi-annual symposia around forensic psychology were established.

Valerie Sinason publishes ‘Mental Handicap and the Human Condition’

Valerie Sinason

In 1992 Valerie Sinason published Mental Handicap and the Human Condition, new approaches from the Tavistock Clinic. This work was very much rooted in the Trust’s strong history of working with developmental issues in child education services and by the 1990s the Trust were a leader in the field. By the..Read More

Margaret Rustin become Dean

Margaret Rustin

At the same time as the Tavistock and Portman became an NHS trust, a national training contract was awarded to it. Margaret Rustin, who had become Dean in 1994, worked with UEL to develop five doctorate courses (which also functioned as research degrees). At one stage there were more than..Read More

The Tavistock and Portman Clinics join as an NHS trust

Anton Obholzer

In 1988, Margaret Thatcher announced a significant review of the NHS as a whole and from this two white papers were published that outlined the introduction of an ‘internal market’ that introduced competition into the NHS and proposed a split between purchasers and providers of care that continues to this..Read More

Tavistock Consulting is founded

In 1994, Anton Obholzer supported Jon Stokes to set up Tavistock Consulting. The aim was to bring together psychoanalysis and an understanding organisations from a systemic point of view to develop an individual coaching and consulting service for organisations and leaders. The original organisation was created by Jon Stokes with..Read More

The Tavi on the TV

The Talking Cure - BBC TV 1999

In 1999, Anton Obholzer’s continuing emphasis on promoting the good work of the clinic to the media bore fruit with the BBC’s six-part series, The Talking Cure, coinciding with the publication of a book of the same name. Although many at the Trust were concerned about the impact of media attention,..Read More

Laverne Antrobus becomes the first black clinician at the Tavistock and Portman

Laverne Antrobus

In 2000 Laverne Antrobus joined the staff of Gloucester House, becoming the first black clinician at the Tavistock and Portman. Laverne originally trained at the Tavistock and Portman and since joining she has become a key member of the Children, Young Adults and Families Directorate. Outside of her role at..Read More

Agnes Bryan joins the Tavistock and Portman

Agnes Bryan

In the early years of the new century, equalities became a bigger issue at the Trust. Although equalities legislation had been put into place with the Race Relations Acts of 1965, 1968 and 1975, following the death of Stephen Lawrence, the 1999 Macpherson Enquiry found strong evidence of continuing institutional..Read More

Centre for Mental Health in Nursing is set up

In 2001, a Centre for Mental Health in Nursing was set up jointly with Middlesex University to provide new training programmes in nursing.

The Tavistock Adult Depression Study is launched

In response to a call for research, in 2001 Phil Richardson and his team began work on the important and influential Tavistock Adult Depression Study. This long-term study was taken over by David Taylor in 2007 after Phil Richardson’s death. Felicitas Rost is currently the lead researcher. In 2015 it..Read More

The Northern School of Child Psychotherapy is established

The Northern School of Child Psychotherapy

As part of the national training contract with the NHS the Tavistock Clinic needed to evidence that they were changing the national pattern of training and set about developing regional centres. In 2002 The Northern School of Child Psychotherapy was established in Leeds and a course was developed in Birmingham.

Nick Temple becomes Chief Executive

Nick Temple

In 2002, Anton Obholzer retired after playing a crucial role while at the helm of the Trust. He was succeeded by Nick Temple. Nick Temple had been a consultant at the Tavistock Clinic since 1989, with Margot Waddell. he had been a founder and joint editor of the Tavistock Clinic..Read More

Nick Temple becomes Chief Executive

Nick Temple

In 2002 Nick Temple became the Chief Executive of the Tavistock and Portman after Anton Obholzer stepped down. Nick steered the Tavistock and Portman through the process of becoming an NHS foundation trust. This ensured that the Trust secured further independence. He also oversaw significant growth in education and training.

Systemic therapy becomes a discipline

In 2003, systemic therapy was recognised as one of the Trust’s six core disciplines, with systemic therapy having been in existence and running courses at the Trust since the 1970s and having established the first ever doctorate in systemic family therapy, in partnership with UEL in the 1980s.

Tavistock Institute of Marital Studies expands

Tavistock Relationships logo

In 2004, the Institute of Marital Studies expanded by taking over some of the functions of London Marriage Guidance and enlarging its range of services beyond marriage to include couples. In recognition of this, it changed its name to the Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationships (TCCR). It had already separated..Read More

The Tavistock and Portman becomes Camden’s main provider of child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS)

In 2005, the Tavistock and Portman became the main provider of child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) for Camden, although we had been providing many aspects of CAMHS services and work in schools in Camden for several decades. Our MALT (Multi Agency Liaison Team), led by Rita Harris and..Read More

The Tavistock and Portman becomes a foundation trust

Tavistock and Portman logo

In 2002, Health Secretary Alan Milburn introduced the idea of foundation trusts, with the first ten announced in 2004. Foundation trusts provided more managerial and financial freedom than NHS trusts. They represented a significant change in the way in which hospital services are managed and provided in the NHS. The..Read More

Matthew Patrick becomes Chief Executive

Matthew Patrick

Matthew Patrick was the Chief Executive of the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust from 2007 to 2013. He originally joined the Tavistock Clinic in 1990 as a senior registrar and spent a significant portion of his career as a consultant psychiatrist in the Adult Department, spending 24 years in..Read More

Matthew Patrick becomes Chief Executive of the Tavistock and Portman

Matthew Patrick

In 2007, Matthew Patrick succeeded Nick Temple, when he retired as Chief Executive. Matthew Patrick had trained as an adult psychiatrist at the Maudsley and Bethlem Royal Hospitals and in psychotherapy in the adult department at the Tavistock. For many years he combined clinical work and developmental research at UCL...Read More

The Family Drug and Alcohol Court (FDAC) is established

A new service, the Family Drug and Alcohol Court (FDAC) , was established by the Tavistock and Portman in 2008 to help parents stop using drugs or alcohol and keep families together. Instead of the usual care proceedings, a family chosen for the FDAC programme goes through a very different..Read More

Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationships moves into new premises

In 2009, following further expansion, the Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationship moved to new premises in central London and expanded to a second site in Liverpool Street.

The City and Hackney primary care psychotherapy consultation service (PCPCS) is founded

210 Kingsland High Road

In 2009 the Tavistock and Portman founded the City and Hackney primary care psychotherapy consultation service (PCPCS) to help GPs manage patients with complex needs. The PCPCS was initially located in the ground floor annexe of Shoreditch Health Centre and its founders included: Phil Stokoe, Louise Lyon, Rob Senior and..Read More

The Family Nurse Partnership National Unit joins the Tavistock and Portman

Between 2013 and 2020 the Family Nurse Partnership National Unit joined the Tavistock and Portman, leading the delivery of a national home visiting programme for first time mums.  In the Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) programme, specially trained family nurses visit young mums regularly at home, from early in pregnancy until..Read More

The City and Hackney primary care psychotherapy consultation service (PCPCS) wins awards

PCPCS Awards

In 2013 the PCPCS won a Royal College of Psychiatrists Award and in 2015 it won a British Medical Journal Award. The PCPCS: long-read

Paul Jenkins becomes Chief Executive

Paul Jenkins

Paul Jenkins was appointed as the Chief Executive of the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust in December 2013.

Paul Jenkins becomes Chief Executive of the Tavistock and Portman

Paul Jenkins

In December 2013, Paul Jenkins became the new Chief Executive of the Tavistock and Portman, succeeding Matthew Patrick. Paul Jenkins had a significant public sector career. He was awarded an OBE in 2002 for his role in setting up NHS Direct. Paul had then worked in the third sector as..Read More

i-Thrive is launched

Following on from the work of the Trust’s CAMHS and MALT (Multi Agency Liaison Team) teams, we refined our systemic approach to emotional well-being services for young people and linked up with the Anna Freud Centre to develop a whole system approach that became the THRIVE model, launched in 2014...Read More

LGBTQI+ equalities at the Tavistock and Portman

Louise Lyon

In 2014 the Tavistock and Portman launched a wide-ranging project to tackle inequalities relating to LGBTQI+ status and root out the pathologisation of homosexuality in our recommended texts and teachings. The project was led by Louise Lyon, Trust Director and Chair of the Equal Opportunities Committee, in collaboration with Stonewall,..Read More