History of the Anna Freud Centre

Introduction

Anna Freud established the child and adolescent therapy and training institution known today as the Anna Freud Centre with four principles in mind. Firstly, she wanted therapy to be available for children in need, regardless of their family's ability to pay. Secondly, she wanted to create a training course specifically for therapeutic work with children rather than child therapy training being only an addendum to adult therapy training. Thirdly, she wanted to apply psychoanalytic knowledge and skill to fields such as education and social and legal reform. Fourthly, Anna Freud was devoted to enquiry, which was always based on careful and detailed observation: research was an integral part of the Centre's work from the beginning.

Origins

Anna Freud was a psychoanalyst and pioneer of psychoanalytic work with children. She and her family came to the UK in 1938 as refugees from Nazi-occupied Vienna .

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The Centre had its origins in Anna Freud's work during the Second World War with homeless and refugee children and their families. In 1941 she set up the Hampstead War Nurseries, a refuge for approximately 100 children made homeless by the bombing. The War Nurseries helped to meet the need for residences for children who were considered "billeting problems" because they could not be evacuated without their mothers or had developed difficulties in foster care situations. Anna Freud applied her knowledge of child development to the children's care. For example, in contrast to the typical residential nursery practice at that time, parents were involved as much as possible. 'Family' groups were organised so that children received consistent care rather than being looked after by whichever member of staff happened to be on duty.

The Nurseries also provided a unique opportunity for observational research into child development and study of the impact of the war on children. This research aimed to foster better understanding of each individual child's needs. The nurseries' staff members received informal training in working with children from the highly experienced core team.

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The First 30 Years

From 1952-1982 the Centre was known as the Hampstead Child Therapy Course and Clinic (the name was changed in honour of Anna Freud after her death in 1982). The Hampstead Child Therapy Course began in 1947 and The Hampstead Clinic opened at 12 Maresfield Gardens in 1952. The Hampstead Child Therapy Course and Clinic was established as a charity whose Deed of Trust stated that its purpose was to provide training, treatment and research in child psychoanalysis.

The Clinic grew rapidly. Two further buildings (no. 21 and no. 14) were given in 1956 and 1967. During the 1960s and '70s up to 60 children and adolescents were in intensive treatment at any one time. Students came to train from home and abroad and the Clinic became a centre of scholarship with a steady supply of academic visitors and post-doctoral researchers and a large output of published papers. In 1957, a small nursery school was opened where pre-school education based on a sound knowledge of child development was provided and students could observe developing children. Mother-toddler groups and a well-baby clinic were also started.

The Clinic was funded largely by grants to support research and scholarship. Anna Freud was an articulate, charismatic and effective fundraiser and found much support for her work, especially in the USA . Detailed records were kept of all children seen in the clinic and research groups formed which would meet over a period of time. These groups published papers on a variety of topics, such as child development; adoption; the developmental impact of physical handicap (including blindness) and chronic illness; the assessment of pathology; psychoanalytic concepts and technique.

The 1980s and '90s

Anna Freud remained involved until her death in 1982, but from 1978 to 1987 the Centre was jointly directed by Clifford Yorke and Hansi Kennedy. In 1987, George Moran was appointed as Director. Trained at Hampstead, he brought both continuity and innovation. He conducted the first randomised controlled study of psychoanalytic treatment of brittle diabetes in children and published an imaginative study showing close correlation between changes in diabetic control and the progress of the psychoanalysis of an adolescent girl. Together with Peter Fonagy (now Chief Executive at AFC and Freud Memorial Professor of Psychoanalysis at University College London) he initiated a series of studies on psychoanalytic process and outcome. He also set up a project to study psychoanalysis for young adults.

After George Moran's tragic death in early 1992 at the age of 40, Rose Edgcumbe was Acting Director for 15 months. From 1993 to 1996, the post was taken by Anne-Marie Sandler and Julia Fabricius was Director from ? to ? . During this time the relationship between the Centre and University College London (UCL) became closer with the Centre offering a one year course in Psychoanalytic Developmental Psychology for an MSc awarded by UCL which could be taken as a stand-alone course or as the first pre-clinical year of the Centre's clinical training.

Peter Fonagy was Director of Research at AFC from 1989-2003 and published a number of important research papers with colleagues including a retrospective outcome study of all the cases (763) treated at the Centre over 40 years. Another important study showed that interviews asking new parents to describe their relationships with their own parents during their first pregnancy predicted the quality of their babies' attachment to them at one year of age. This project (London Parent-Child Project) is ongoing, with the cohort of children being followed-up as they get older.

AFC in the 21st Century

The Centre's current Directors, Linda Mayes, Peter Fonagy and Mary Target, were appointed in 2003. Their aim has been to secure the Anna Freud Centre's position as the leading psychoanalytic innovator and provider of mental health treatment to children and families in Europe . Anna Freud's original aims for the Centre remain central in the new millennium.

Treatment continues to be available regardless of financial means. The Centre aims to identify innovative ways of offering psychoanalytic help to children and families struggling with emotional and developmental disturbances. Either intensive psychotherapy (three or more sessions per week), or less intensive individual therapy is available for children and adolescents whose problems indicate the need for specialist one-to-one help. The Parent-Infant Project provides help for parents experiencing difficulty with their infants. We run four parent-toddler groups , two at AFC and two in the community, offering help and support to families having problems with toddler parenting. The Young People's Project provides group activities for young people aged 14-18 who are feeling depressed, isolated or struggling with relationships. A ten-session family consultation service is available for children and families under stress.

Training and psychoanalytic education remain central activities of the Centre. We see services and training as closely tied in helping us to improve the effectiveness of the services available to children both in London and through our dissemination and training initiatives throughout the UK , Europe and other parts of the world. The intake for our clinical training in child psychotherapy had to be halted temporarily from 2004-2007 due to budget deficits but it is hoped that in 2008 (pending ACP accreditation) an 'Anna Freud' stream will be offered under the auspices of the British Association of Psychotherapists. The MSc in Psychoanalytic Developmental Psychology has gone from strength to strength and the AFC-Yale Bridge has borne fruit in a new two-year MSc in Psychoanalytic Developmental Neuroscience. We offer an ever-increasing range of short courses to support the skills and practice of allied professionals working in child mental health and clinical research. Our Academic Faculty of leading academic and clinical researchers is engaged in empirical, theoretical or conceptual psychoanalytic research over a variety of topics.

Application

A number of projects are concerned with the application of psychoanalytic knowledge to other fields:

Research

We are committed to the values of an evidence-based approach, and wish to be at the forefront of evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of psychoanalytically informed psychotherapies. Current projects include the following: