Congratulations to Marilyn Ruttley  on winning the 2025 Elly Jansen Award.

Marilyn’s  paper, “I had skills to offer; I wasn’t just a patient,” examines the educational activities and aspirations of former patients at a therapeutic community in England. Through personal experiences, interviews, and a focus group with four former patients, Marilyn suggests that involving people with lived experience in research can improve confidence and skill development and act as both an educational and psychosocial intervention alongside traditional therapeutic approaches.

Marilyn’s article will also be published in the International Journal of Therapeutic Communities, the only peer-reviewed journal dedicated to publishing international findings related to therapeutic communities.

Marilyn presented her paper and received the award at the annual conference of The Consortium of Therapeutic Communities in September.