Peper Harow - The Peper Harow Residential Community

The Peper Harow Residential Community

The Peper Harow residential community was founded in 1970 by Melvyn Rose and gained international repute for its pioneering work with disturbed adolescents. For over 20 years, this establishment provided a therapeutic environment for teenagers who had often suffered appalling abuse.

The Peper Harow therapeutic community was set up by Melvyn Rose who had been a house master at the approved school, Park House, that pre-dated the Peper Harow Community. Rose understood that the difficult and sometimes violent behaviour of the young residents at Peper Harow reflected their personal pain and distress. All young people were assigned a personal mentor who developed very close relationships with the children in their care. In keeping with the interest in eastern philosophy at the time these were, rather quaintly, known as "Gurus". The residents and staff together took responsibility for the daily maintenance of the community and all contributed to cooking and cleaning. The young people were considered to be partners in the therapeutic endeavour and there was an expectation that everyone attended the daily community meetings. These meetings were the heart of the community and often young people were able to share and resolve very painful experiences from their past, and the daily difficulties and challenges of sixty adults and children living together could be addressed in a helpful way. There were high expectations on young people to help each other and to achieve educationally. Many young people left to go to university and others took up higher education at a later point in their adult lives. Unfortunately residential care for children fell out of favour as a result of abuse scandals and Peper Harow eventually closed. It still has an influence today. In particular Rose's understanding of the importance of the physical and sensory environment in healing traumatised young people was decades ahead of his time.