Dockar-Drysdale, Barbara

Barbara Estelle Dockar-Drysdale (née Gordon; 1912–1999) was a British psychotherapist who treated both adults and children but is best known for her work with children and young people, especially at the Mulberry Bush School, which she founded in 1948 with the support of her husband, and led as coprincipal until 1964; and the Cotswold Community, a therapeutic community for boys for which she was Consultant Psychotherapist and Therapeutic Advisor for 20 years from 1969. She discovered her calling by accident working with refugees and evacuees during the Second World War, and then actively sought professional training among specialists in children’s psychiatry, as well as undergoing a personal analysis.

Supported and encouraged by her mentor and friend, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott, she transformed her work at ...