The Cassel Hospital was founded and endowed by Ernest Cassel in England in 1919. It was initially for the treatment of "shell shock" victims. Originally in Penshurst, Kent, it moved to Stoke-on-Trent during World War II. In 1948 it relocated to its present site at No. 1 Ham Common, Richmond.
The present hospital was originally a late 18th century house known as Morgan House. In 1863 it became home to the newly-married Duc de Chartres. In 1879 it became West Heath school for young ladies. The school moved to its present site in Sevenoaks, Kent in the 1930s, and the building became the Lawrence Hall Hotel until its purchase by the Cassel Foundation in 1947.[1][2]
The hospital developed behavioural rather than medicinal techniques of group and individual psychotherapy. It was here that Tom Main pioneered his concept of a therapeutic community. It is now a psychotherapeutic community which provides day, residential and outreach services for young people and families.[3] It is run by the West London Mental Health NHS Trust.