It is with great pleasure that the Committee and Fellows of the
Institute for the History and Work of Therapeutic Evironments (IHWTE)
announce and warmly welcome the appointment of two new IHWTE Fellows,
Dimitris Vonofakos and Prof. Michael E. Gorman.


DIMITRIS VONOFAKOS is a social researcher with a background in
psychology and further studies in psychoanalytic theory and methods. He
took his BA (hons) in 1999 at The American College of Thessaloniki,
Greece; he was awarded a first in 2001 for his MA thesis on
"Psychiatric Asylums and Community Care: a Psychoanalytic Perspective"
in the Centre for Psycho-Analytic Studies, University of Essex; and his
PhD dissertation, supervised by Prof. Bob Hinshelwood in the Centre for
Psychoanalystic Studies, is "Differentiating Defence-Related and
Work-Related Functioning in Social Defence Systems: Observing the
Unconscious Cultures of Psychiatric Organisations".

Currently, Dimitris is Qualitative Data Officer in ESDS Qualidata, part
of the UK Data Archive, University or Essex, working on the digitisation
and dissemination of qualitative data for use in secondary analysis. He
is also involved in the preparation of Research Methods Teaching Packs
that are used by instructors to orientate and familiarise students with
qualitative research methods using examples from archived material. His
research interests are in the psychoanalytic study of social and
organisational dynamics, the historical development of psychoanalytic
theory and the applications of psychoanalytic methods in the social
sciences. He has presented extensively in international conferences and
is a national representative of OPUS (Organisation Promoting the
Understanding of Society) for Greece where he has been running annual,
psycho-social research groups (Listening Posts) that focus on the
psychological experiences of national citizens.



MICHAEL E. GORMAN is Professor in Science, Technology & Society at the
University of Virginia, with a doctorate in Social Psychology, with
extensive teaching, supervision and research experience in psychology,
and with particular expertise in cognitive and social aspects of
invention and design.

A patron of the Planned Environment Therapy Trust's 2004-2005 Appeal,
Dr. Gorman is currently pursuing research in therapeutic interventions
with 'difficult' and 'disturbed' children. He is focusing on the work
of A. Jean Ayres, an academic and practicing occupational therapist and
educational psychologist who founded the Center for the Study of Sensory
Integrative Dysfunction in California. She pioneered an approach to a
range of childhood learning problems called Sensory Integration.

According to Gorman,

''Ayres' discovered that a large set of these 'difficult' children were
frustrated by their inability to coordinate sensory and motor activities
at a basic level, which of course made them appear oppositional. She
therefore was working from different assumptions about the problem, and
also evolved therapeutic methods distinct from those used by
behaviorists and psychoanalysts-though like all therapists, she was a
bricolage artist, willing to borrow any technique that appeared like it
might help a child.''

He goes on to say

''Ayres' work represented a contrast to the top-down paradigm used in
OT, where the therapist or teacher was in charge and told the child what
to do. Ayres instead believed that, "The child must organize his own
brain: the therapist can only provide the milieu conducive to evoking
the drive to do so".''

She devised therapeutic tools, techniques, and environments which appear
to have been both successful and influential, and Dr. Gorman is pursuing
historical, oral historical and analytic research into Ayres' design and
innovation process. Research questions include:

" Where did Ayres get ideas for artifacts?
" What was her model of 'therapeutic environment', and how did her
models of the therapeutic environment change over time?
" What kind of evidence did she use to determine what worked and what
didn't work during the design process?
" What was the role of the sensory integration community in adapting
and improving the technologies?"

According to Prof. Gorman, he has become an IHWTE Fellow in order to
draw on the support and expertise of the Institute and its Fellows, to
broaden his understanding of the British models and approach to this
area, and to support and participate in the work and development of the
IHWTE as such.



FURTHER CONGRATULATIONS TO DIMITRIS, who has been awarded an IHWTE/PETT
Research Grant to be carried out in the Centre for Psychoanalytic
Studies on:

"Early influences in the work of Wilfred Bion, with a particular focus
on his association with John Rickman"

An investigation of early influences in the work of Wilfred Bion, with a
particular focus on his association with John Rickman, building on
recent publications (e.g., Tom Harrison (2000), Bion, Rickman, Foulkes
and the Northfield Experiments: Advancing on a Different Front; Pearl
King (2003), No Ordinary Psychoanalyst: The Exceptional Contributions of
John Rickman), exploring Bion's formative years in 1930s and 1940s,
mapping out early influences on his later work on group dynamics and
individual psychopathology. Special attention will be drawn to Bion's
relationship and professional collaborations with John Rickman, starting
from their analytic relationship, the interventions in Wharncliffe and
Northfield Hospitals, as well as the ground-breaking work with
leaderless groups. The final piece will form part of a co-edited book by
Dr. Nuno Torres and Professor Bob Hinshelwood, tracing the development
of the work of Wilfred Bion.



THE INSTITUTE FOR THE HISTORY AND WORK OF THERAPEUTIC ENVIRONMENTS is a
designated research and study centre of the University of Birmingham in
partnership with the Planned Environment Therapy Trust Archive, Research
and Study Centre, and based at the Planned Environment Therapy Trust,
Church Lane, Toddington, Cheltenham, Glos. GL54 5DQ

THE IHWTE FELLOWSHIP is a developing honorary project, the aim being to
engage exciting scholars, researchers and practitioners in helping the
Institute for the History and Work of Therapeutic Environments to grow
in its work, and to find ways that the Institute and fellow Fellows can
help one another. Fellows are encouraged to join in IHWTE meetings, and
to take an active part in decision-making and committees. For further
information, or if you are interested in joining with the IHWTE project
as a potential Fellow, please contact the Dr. Craig Fees, Honorary
Director, IHWTE, [log in to unmask], or see http://www.ihwte.org.uk.

FELLOWS CURRENTLY INCLUDE Prof. Michael E. Gorman, Dr. David Millard,
Kevin Polley, Dr A.I. Rees, Anthony Slater, Dr. Jonathon Toms, Dimitris
Vonofakos, Dr. Andrea Wheeler, and Visiting Fellow from Northwestern
University in the United States, Teri Chettiar


--
Dr. Craig Fees, RMSA
Honorary Director,
Institute for the History and Work of Therapeutic Environments
Planned Environment Therapy Trust Archive and Study Centre
Church Lane
Toddington near Cheltenham
Glos. GL54 5DQ
United Kingdom

01242 620125
http://www.ihwte.org.uk

"The Institute for the History and Work of Therapeutic Environments is a designated research and study centre of the University of Birmingham in partnership with the Planned Environment Therapy Trust Archive, Research and Study Centre, and based at the Planned Environment Therapy Trust, Church Lane, Toddington, Cheltenham, Glos. GL54 5DQ"