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Abstract: This article describes and reflects on some of the author's professional experiences in visiting therapeutic communities (TCs) that had a significant effect on his understanding of professional relationships, the unique nature of therapy in a prison TC, and the qualities of the therapeutic milieu in a now closed residential TC for personality disorder in the National Health Service. The final section urges a more expansive and outward‐looking perspective, and draws together contemporary themes about new developments in the wider field of therapeutic environments. It concludes with an optimistic portrayal of a future where the principles and values behind this work are more widely understood and adopted.

Asylum to Action offers an alternative history of a libertarian therapeutic community at Paddington Day Hospital in West London in the 1970s. Helen Spandler recaptures the radical aspirations, as well as the conflicts, of the early therapeutic community movement, radical psychiatry and the patients' movement.

PurposeThis paper aims to describe the origins of the concept of a psychologically informed environment (PIE), as now adopted and applied in homelessness resettlement, placing this in the context of work recently carried out under the aegis of the Royal College of Psychiatrists' Centre for Quality Improvement to recognise and promote "enabling environments" in all areas of social practice.Design/methodology/approachThis paper gives an historical account of the contemporary development of new thinking and practical applications for enhancing community mental health and well‐being.FindingsThe concept of an enabling environment (EE) arose out of efforts to up‐date for the twenty‐first century the post‐war concept of a therapeutic community, for all services working with the same basic core values and psycho‐social awareness. The EE approach now applies this framework more flexibly, yet with a clear operational focus in each sector, to a wider range of organisational contexts, social practice and agencies outside the therapy and care services world. From the outset, homelessness resettlement and social housing practice was seen as a key part of the overall ambition.Practical implicationsUnderstanding the values base behind social‐psychological approaches in social practice environments helps to translate these ideas into service‐led improvements in actual frontline services practice. In particular, the enabling environments approach offers a handy tool for self‐assessment and service improvement, which is fully compatible with the PIE's philosophy.Originality/valueThe concept of a PIE is currently acquiring momentum within homelessness resettlement work in the UK. In helping to establish the underlying values framework for psychologically‐informed services; and also provide tools for such services to use, this paper makes a contribution to help inform developing practice.

Marking Jessica Kingsley Publishers' 30th anniversary of publishing books that make a difference, this collection of articles gives insight into social change achieved during the last 30 years. With contributors looking at both the positive and negatives aspects of their field, it offers a unique look into a diverse array of disciplines