The director of the International Institute of Child and Adolescent Mental Health

Abstract

Kedar Nath Dwivedi; visiting professor, London Metropolitan University; director, International Institute of Child and Adolescent Mental Health; formerly consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist, Northampton My psychiatric training at Cambridge during the David Clarke era concentrated on group therapy. When I started as a consultant at Northampton, this background helped me to develop group therapy services, training courses, and publication of a book on group work with children and adolescents. We tried to cultivate an ethos where everyone (staff and users) is genuinely valued and empowered, as typical of group therapy. We also set up a family therapy clinic in which a small team of consultants from diverse backgrounds (for example, paediatrics, psychotherapy, marital therapy, and child psychiatry) brought their most difficult cases to the clinic. The unique approach to working together often led to a breakthrough in many hopeless situations. I looked forward to these weekly transformational events. My training in public health also helped me to develop prevention and …