The Present Status and Functions of the Child-Guidance Movement in Great Britain, and its Possible Future Developments

The title of this paper may seem over-ambitious in the scope which it predicts, for it is obvious that much more space would be required to cover all the ground. It should be made clear that we are concerned here mainly with the administrative side of child guidance, which has of late years become a vital concern to the members of this Association. During the past few years there has been growing in the minds of all those interested in the promotion and preservation of mental health a belief that a co-ordination of existing mental health services should be carried out. At present these services are too sporadic and are uneven both in distribution and efficiency. London and the great cities are rich in mental health services of all kinds, but in the counties and smaller towns there are but meagre provisions. This is well illustrated by the voluntary societies concerned with the treatment and prevention of mental illness. There is, for example, the Home and School Council, which works on the principle that a better relation between parents and teachers constitutes a creative force in mental health, and further provides a unique channel through which mental health knowledge can be brought before the general public without the risks attached to indiscriminate propaganda. Another society, at the other end of the scale, is the Mental After-Care Association, which attempts to bridge the difficult gap which patients experience between leaving a mental hospital and taking up life in the ordinary world again. Yet another society is the National Council of Mental Hygiene, whose broad aims are to educate the public in mental health matters, to promote closer association between psychiatry and general medicine, to further the early treatment of mental disorders, etc. The Central Association for Mental Welfare was, at its inception, mainly interested in the problems of mental defect, but now has a wide range of activities, such as the organization of training courses for medical officers, teachers and mental welfare workers, co-ordinating local activities in many areas and making provision for cases which fall outside the scope of smaller authorities, and undertaking public activities relating to propaganda and the promotion of legislation. In a more limited field the Child Guidance Council attempts to encourage the provision of skilled treatment for children showing behaviour disturbances or early symptoms of nervous and mental disorder and, in general, to further the practice of child guidance. In addition to those societies which are directly concerned with mental health, there are many others, such as the British Social Hygiene Council, the National Association of Probation Officers, the R.S.P.C.A., the Howard League, the National Institute of Industrial Psychology, whose work lie on the borders of this field. It is obvious that there is a great deal of overlapping, and the need for co-ordination is being attained through a temporary reconstruction committee under the chairmanship of Lord Feversham, which will shortly publish a report.