The James Nayler Foundation - April 24th - London

                                                                Are 'psychotics' untreatable?

The conventional view that people with severe personality disorders can only be contained, not rehabilitated, will be challenged at a conference in London in April, when a new charitable foundation will be launched to
explore the nature and treatment of violent behaviour.

The James Nayler Foundation - named after an early Quaker martyr - will promote and research a radical new therapy devised by Dr Bob Johnson, a consultant psychiatrist who achieved remarkable success in treating
'untreatable' lifers in Parkhurst maximum security prison on the Isle of Wight, UK.

Dr Johnson worked for five years (1991-6) with violent and dangerous men in a special unit at Parkhurst and, using emotional education based on 'truth, trust and consent', reduced both violent incidents and medication by 90 per cent. Despite this success the unit was closed. Prisoners undergoing treatment were dispersed and 'Dr Bob' resigned in protest.

The foundation has been set up by Bob and Sue Johnson in response to the overwhelming support he has received for his pioneering work. Its inaugural conference - at Friends House, Euston Road, London on April 24 - will initiate a public debate on the problems involved in 'Building a violence-free society'. It will encourage collaboration between the relevant agencies in the fields of law, health, education and social services.

Keynote speakers will include Dr James Gilligan, former director of Massachusetts Prison Mental Health Services, on 'Violence prevention - an agenda for the coming century' and Dr Bob Johnson on 'Is humanity born lovable, sociable and non-violent?'.

Other speakers include Kate Cairns, author of Surviving Paedophilia; Edward Fitzgerald, barrister at law; Maria Noble, equal opportunities adviser/inspector for Manchester city council; Maureen Ryan, co-ordinator of the Domestic Violence Forum in York; and Paul Whitehouse, chief constable of Sussex.

The conference will be chaired by Tony Webster, former director of education for Tameside metropolitan borough council, co-ordinator of the Values in Education project and a trustee of the James Nayler Foundation.

                                     No charge will be made to participants in the conference.

Applications forms are available from:

       James Nayler Foundation, PO Box 235, York, YO1 9YY, United Kingdom (e-mail: admin@jnf.org.uk ).

           For more information please see the James Naylor Foundation web site at http://www.jnf.org.uk