Papers of Rachel Pinney

The archive consists of papers on the technique of Creative Listening, correspondence, transcript of an article, press cuttings concerning her court appearance on a kidnap charge.

This collection is available for research. Readers are advised to contact The Women's Library in advance of their first visit.

Deposited in 1986 Dale Spender, who received them from Betty Jerman.

Rachel Pinney (1909-1995) was born 11 Jul 1909, the daughter of a Major-General. She obtained a medical degree and practiced as a GP until 1961. On leaving the medical profession, Rachel contacted Dr Margaret Lowenfeld, the distinguished child therapist. Rachel learnt her methods but never trained formally. This period resulted in the pioneering of her 'methods for conflict understanding' which she called Creative Listening, and Children's Hours, the former incorporated as a limited company in 1967. These techniques were widely used by experts working therapeutically with children. In 1977 Rachel went to New York and treated a four year old boy suffering from autism. This resulted in her publication 'Bobby, Breakthrough of an Autistic Child' (1983). Rachel was briefly married to Luigi Coccuzzi with whom she had one daughter and two sons. She was a pacifist, being a member of CND from 1961, a Christian, and openly declared herself a lesbian in 1989. She died 19 Oct 1995 aged 86.