Gill Gorell Barnes has been a family therapist, researcher, author and  teacher for over 45 years,  working within the NHS at the Tavistock Clinic London, and later  alongside the UK Family Courts .  Parental mental illness has been an ongoing part of  her work in both settings as well as in her own family life in childhood. She was co- founder, and first training director of the Institute of Family Therapy, London.