Healing Hurt Minds

Internationally renowned as a healing community for disturbed children, Peper Harow opened in 1970. Melvyn Rose, director of this remarkable establishment, describes in vivid and moving terms how its present therapeutic role evolved. The youngsters who come to Peper Harow today have experienced appalling lives. While society is shocked by child abuse, it fails to understand the resultant emotional damage and so remains ambivalent about the youngsters' bizarre and disruptive behaviour. At Peper Harow the total experience aims to relieve their emotional subjection to past hurt and fear. Melvyn Rose describes the structure and nature of the programme itself, with all its formal and informal activities, and its organizational relationships. He shows how these can be integrated to make a special environment that can compensate for the emotional nourishment the youngsters missed earlier and which is essential if they are ever to grow towards normal adulthood.