Google recognises Anna Freud’s work revolutionising care for children facing emotional distress

December 3rd marks the 119^th birthday of Anna Freud and Google has produced a doodle to celebrate her life and legacy.

Anna Freud, the youngest child of Sigmund Freud, is credited as being the founder of child psychotherapy. By the time of her death in 1982, she had revolutionised how children in many walks of life are cared for.

In 1941, she set up the Hampstead War Nurseries for young victims of war who had experienced profound trauma. Anna Freud applied her knowledge of child development whilst working with the children and their families. She also took the opportunity to research the effect of deprivation of parental care on children affected by conflict.

With the end of the war and closure of the Hampstead War Nurseries, Anna Freud established the Hampstead Child-Therapy Course in (HCTC) in 1947. This became known as the Hampstead Child-Therapy Course and Clinic (HCTCC) in 1952, when a clinic at 12 Maresfield Gardens was acquired to offer children psychoanalytic treatment.  The Clinic was granted charity status in 1952

Today, whilst we have expanded our focus and use a wider range of clinical and research approaches, we remain dedicated to understanding young minds and to transforming how young people and families with mental health problems are helped.

Our vision is a world in which children and their families are effectively supported to build on their own strengths to achieve their goals in life.

We care for young minds in five main ways:

• Researching the underlying causes of childhood emotional distress using the latest neuroscience techniques
• Developing, piloting and evaluating new, cost-effective treatments for children and families facing mental health difficulties
• Supporting mental health services to improve their practice through the collection and evaluation of outcomes data and shared decision-making
• Offering teaching and training courses and building a global network of researchers, clinicians and mental health professionals to ensure that new knowledge and ideas are shared as widely as possible
• Providing advice and leadership to national policy initiatives focused on improving children’s and young people’s mental health.