I feel privileged to have been invited to write this appreciation of Janet Mattinson, as it has given me the opportunity to repay a little of the debt I owe her. I know that I speak for many of those who came into the couple psychotherapy world — from the late 1960s to the middle 1980s — in saying that she had a profound influence on the course of our subsequent careers. As well as being an inspiring teacher and a natural leader, she took a strong personal interest in those she taught that left a lasting mutual attachment. One of the most eminent of her former students and colleagues, the social and political theorist Bill Jordan, summed up his reminiscences of Janet in these words: ‘Her influence on me was long-term and cumulative, and my appreciation of her grew over time. I owe her a great deal, as a wise, strong and insightful mentor and friend’. Another, Stan Ruszczynski, now Clinical Director of the Portman Clinic (part of the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust in London), has said that one of the things that impressed him about Janet was her love for her patients' underlying