The Elly Jansen Award
Do you have insights about the power of relationships in mental health recovery or a piece of groundbreaking research in relational practice to share? Consider submitting your work to the Elly Jansen Award!
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The Elly Jansen Award, established by Community Housing and Therapy and funded by Elly Jansen OBE (pictured), a prominent figure in the development of therapeutic communities globally, aims to encourage new research and recognise inspiring writing that explores creative approaches to therapeutic communities and relational practice. The Award also provides a valuable platform for voices in the field, including new writers and those from international communities, to share their insights and experiences.
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The 2025 Elly Jansen Awards are now open for submissions! The two award categories are outlined below. If you have any questions please email the awards committee.
Award for Original Articles
First prize: £1,000 and publication in the International Journal of Therapeutic Communities.
Two runner's up prizes of £500 each.
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Deadline for submissions is midnight, Sunday 15 June 2025 (GMT). Winners will be notified on Thursday, 31 July 2025 and the award ceremony at in September 2025.
A grant of £5,000 will be awarded for original research into the effectiveness or practice of therapeutic communities.
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The deadline for submissions for this award category has now closed.
Previous winners
2024
The article entry winner was "The Social Restaurant: Between Clinical Care, Communication, Fundraising, and Talents", submitted by the Rosa dei Venti therapeutic community in Italy. The Committee chose this entry for its originality and relevance, highlighting diverse perspectives and demonstrating the integration of the therapeutic community with the wider community.
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Cazine McCarthy was the first runner-up for her article, "A Phenomenological Study of Carers' Experiences in Relational Practice within Children's Residential Care." Dan Neale was the second runner-up for his piece, "The Use of Film and TV Clips for Training Therapeutic Community Practitioners."​
The Research Award went to Adrian Hayes, Niamh Vaughan-Williams, Stephanie Hares, Sarah Devereux, Daniel McNamara, Hannah Davies, Ellen Talbot, Ellie Wildbore, Christina Dithmar, Sally Brookes, and Rowena Pagdin for their proposal, "Empowerment in Action: Exploring Self-Agency in Therapeutic Communities and Other Psychological Modalities for People with Complex Emotional Needs". Judges praised its originality and significance in both the NHS and the wider therapeutic community.​​
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2023
The Henderson Group won the research entry for the first Elly Jansen Award with, "Living, Learning and Legacy: Exploring the influence and impact of Democratic Therapeutic Community principles through the life and work of Henderson Heritage Group".​
Fondazione Rosa dei Venti was a runner up for their research entry "Bio-Natural Therapies in Therapeutic Communities for Adolescents"
Richard Crisp & Dr Elizabeth Wakeland (pictured) won the article entry in first Elly Jansen Award, "Custodial Staff Experiences of the Effectiveness of a Democratic Therapeutic Community for Offenders with traits of Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASCs)".
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Ellie Wildbore won the runner's up award for her article entry ‘From Little Acorns Mighty Oaks Grow - The Acorn Programme Four Years On'. Dr Adrian Hayes & his team won the runner's up award for their article entry, "Foundations of Self-Agency: Development of a Nano-Therapeutic Community in a City Farm".
