The 25th anniversary is a very important occasion in the life of the Centre, which was founded by myself and others in the spring of 1973. This means we are actually 26 years old today - but who's counting? I am very pleased to greet everyone connected with us, including members of our Professional Advisory Committee, as well as colleagues, trainees and trustees. Also I would like to extend warm greetings to old friends and new friends, and especially our guests of honour tonight, Professor Robert Hinshelwood, whose help and guidance has been so important over many years, and Sir Louis Blom-Cooper, who has contributed greatly to the field of mental health.

We established the Crisis Centre in order to offer intensive, personal, psychological and social support to individuals and families in severe emotional distress. Equally important, we wanted our interventions to reflect kindness and humanity as well as psychological acuity. We wanted to respond to people at a time of pain and instability in their lives with respect. And we wanted to be sensitive to their social relations and to be concerned for their experience, this is their subjectively, as well as behaviour, their objective reality.

When adults and children are upset, they may be overwhelmed with dis-ease, but not necessarily disease. A friendly ear to hear hurt, a shoulder to cry on, an attentive eye to see what is going on, and a containing mind to make sense of muddle, are at least as useful, if not more useful, than conventional psychobiological treatments. We thought, and indeed, still think that therapeutic magic or healing power lies in calm, containing considerate and considered relationships, rather than pills, shock, institutionalisation or physical restraint.

As I described in our original brochure, we intended and still intend that the Centre should be a sanctuary, an oasis in an emotional wilderness, a place where people can contain and make sense of their experiences, and achieve a renewed sense of integrity and autonomy.

To try to accomplish this we initially rented a small semi-detached house in Willesden. There was room for 3 guests, a term we use which denotes hospitality rather than management, and two therapists who would be residents of the house, the resident therapists. (RT's) They would be assisted by a cadre of non resident therapists, the team leaders, (TL's) So you could say the RT's served as extra minds or egos for the guests, while the team leaders served the same way for the RT's.

The RT and TL work together whenever we intervene on behalf of a person or family in distress. They are a part of the crisis team which includes those needing help as well as the resident therapist, the team leader and sometimes an Arbours trainee or other colleague doing a placement at the centre. So you can say we pioneered group therapy, but in a new and unique way. Instead of a convening a therapeutic group with one or two therapists and several patients, we formed a therapeutic group with two to three therapists and one guest. The Centre soon found that this approach meant we could help very damaged or distressed person with a greatly focused intensity, consistency. and efficacy.

Subsequently the Centre moved to a much more spacious house in Crouch End in 1980. This place provides the space for three RT's and up to six guests, aside from nine team leaders and other helpers.

Now let me briefly discuss how we work. In general the Centre intervenes in three ways: via the Team, the Group and the House. I have just described the Team, which we convene for every intervention, whether the person in crisis becomes a guest, or not.

The Group consists of all the guests and RT's and students or colleagues doing a placement at the Crisis Centre. There are four formal house meetings each week. In addition the house group meets with an art and movement therapist once a week. The whole house attends and participates in this activity, including the therapists. In fact as you came through the foyer you were able to see an exhibition of the work done in the art group by the RT's.

The House is the Arbours Centre as a therapeutic milieu. It includes visitors and anyone who might be around at any particular moment. In this regard some of the best helpers are the older or more experienced guests who, with new arrivals, carry the culture of the Centre.

Each of these three interacting therapeutic systems means that the Centre is often, able to help people, who may be psychotic or self-mutilating, and who have not been touched by other treatments. To discuss how this happens, and to review our work in greater detail, I would first like to call upon Margaret Fagin, who joined the Centre as a team leader, two years ago, after having trained as a therapist with the Arbours Association. 'Maggie' will present, "Small is Beautiful." The I will call upon Catherine Sunderland who is currently a resident therapist at the Centre. 'Cath' will describe her experience of, "Containing Anxiety at the Crisis Centre."