A two-year pilot project was initiated by Martha Harris and her husband Roland Harris at the latter's school (Woodberry Down Comprehensive in London) that eventually became the School Counsellors' Course at the Tavistock Centre. They believed that the diagnostic, prophylactic, and therapeutic potential of the school environment was capable of much more useful development, provided the school already had an established basis of good pastoral care. The areas demaracated in the project were: work with the staff, work with pupils, and liaison with the child guidance clinic. Informal as well as formal meetings took place, with both individuals and groups. The focus throughout is on practicality rather than perfection, given the complexity of the forces affecting children's development.