... Much has happened in those 25 years, a lot has changed. Things are very different now, the Arbours Crisis Centre has grown up, we are no longer the rebellious adolescent that we were. But some things haven't changed. Each year we hold an internal conference to review and discuss the work of the Crisis Centre, as well as to have the opportunity to come together as a group and relate to each other in a more relaxed and social setting.

Last year the title of the conference was "The Way we Work" and Laura Forti, one of our Team Leaders and one of the early Resident Therapists, presented some clinical work from all those years ago. There was much hilarity when she announced that that was what she was going to present. Would the way of working then seem very old fashioned in contrast with the way we work now. But it was with much pride that we could recognise that some things had not changed. Our commitment to helping people in emotional distress, our ability to live and work with very distressed and chaotic guests had stayed the same. The Crisis Centre is, as Joe said, "a place where people can contain and make sense of their experiences, and achieve a renewed sense of integrity and autonomy", and first and foremost a place where each person is treated with dignity and respect. These things haven't changed.

We are also moving forward with new ideas and innovations. I would specifically like to mention three new projects that we are currently developing.

The launch of this, our new Web Site. The web site provides information about the work of the Centre, as well as the other Arbours facilities. It contains some of the clinical papers about our work that members of the Crisis Centre team have presented at various conferences, as well as photographs of the team itself and the house and garden in which our work takes place. Our thanks to Joe and Stella for all of their work in setting up the Web Site.

We are also producing a book about our work, called "The PsychoSocial Treatment of Psychosis" edited by Joseph Berke, Maggie Fagin, George Pearce and Stella Pierides. The book contains Historical and Theoretical Perspectives, Ways of Working, Clinical Interventions and a chapter on Authority and Money. The contributors to the book are people who either work at the Crisis Centre, or who are themselves very involved in the psychosocial treatment of psychosis.

We are developing a Supervision and Training Service and have Stella to thank for pointing out that we should not be so shy and reticent about our work. We have 25 years experience of working very successfully with people who have been diagnosed as borderline or psychotic, people who are in severe emotional distress. We now intend to share with others the fruits of our experience.

We can now be bolder in our maturity and think of how we might grow. We have hopes of establishing an Arbours Long Stay Staffed Community, and of expanding our crisis intervention service. We have come a long way, but we still have much more to offer.

What has brought us this far and continues to sustain us is the relationships that we have been fortunate to have. The relationship with our Nurse Therapist, the Clinical Administrator, the Financial Administrator, the relationship with our Nurse Manager, the Art Therapist, the Movement Therapist, our Housekeeper, the Gardener. People who provide nursing and therapeutic cover at the Centre and also the relationships that Arbours trainees and students open themselves up to when they come to the Centre on placement. All of these people and many, many more, all of you, without these relationships we could not do the work that we do.

However there is one very, very special relationship that the Arbours Crisis Centre has, one that Maggie has already mentioned, that is it's relationship with Joseph Berke. You will know from Cath's paper, some of you from your own experience, that the job of a Resident Therapist is one of the most difficult. Having been a Resident Therapist myself, one of the things that sustained me was knowing that Joe would do everything in his power to prevent something awful happening to me. Whether that was reality or fantasy it didn't matter, it was knowing he was there, and that he cared, it was having that relationship that sustained me.

Joe breathed life into the Arbours Crisis Centre in 1973, since then he has continued to nurture and care for it, even during it's darkest hours (which were usually financial). He has ensured that the Crisis Centre has preserved it's integrity. He has refused to compromise it's high clinical standards despite overwhelming pressures from various "new Government policies". He continues to inspire and inform all of us with his enthusiasm, knowledge and experience, his boundless energy and generosity. He encourages us to gain confidence and grow from the Crisis Centre's successes. He has grieved over it's failures, and he has rejoiced in it's creativity.

This 25th Anniversary Celebration of the Arbours Crisis Centre is also a celebration of the work of Joseph Berke, and we thank him.

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