A year has passed since the closing of HMP Holloway. During this year many therapists from Holloway have been working on a book to document 20 years of psychotherapy provided to the women held there. In addition to this another project, HUT (Holloway United Therapies) is taking shape. HUT’s aim is to extend specialist forensic therapy to female prisoners on their release from prison.

The book, “The End of the Sentence” is scheduled to be published by Karnac. “The End of the Sentence” is being edited by myself and Jessica Collier. It will appear as part of the Karnac Forensic Series edited by Brett Kahn who is also supervising us in the editing of the chapters.

The exploration of loss is a key component of psychotherapy. The mourning process can go many ways. Healthy mourning provides fuel for further creativity which I believe our two current and complimentary projects express and embody.

To catch up and reconnect SFF is holding a free meeting on 2nd September from 11:00 – 1pm at the usual place, the Philadelphia Association, 17 Marty’s Yard, off of Hampstead High St., NW3. where we will have time to tell you about both “The End of the Sentence” and HUT. Anyone interested in forensic work is warmly invited. There is so much to talk about keeping forensic work alive not only in our practice but in the larger world. My experience of working at HMP Holloway and many other prisons supports my strongly held view that psychotherapy has much to offer in the treatment of offenders and the marginalised. Together let us share our work and find ways in which forensic understanding can be shared and demonstrated to a wider public, ensuring more understanding and support for psychotherapy in (and after) prison.

This is a free event and will include refreshments. A donation would be useful to help cover the rental of the room. We do hope to see you and hope you can help us keep the forensic ball in play. If we do not stand up for our work – who will?

Please do keep in touch and hope to see you on 2nd September. We are always looking for people keen to present their work!

Best wishes to all,

Pamela Stewart

Founder Saturday Forensic Forum