March 2015

Psychoanalytic Approaches to Work with Under 5’s in a Changing World. The Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust.

I attended this 5 day short course in March 2015.  Many of the case studies were extremely traumatic to listen to and included working therapeutically with families in hospital wards and documented the use of smart phones and technology in the clinical space.   In my own work with children, I work with whatever they choose to be their voice until they can find it within themselves, and use whatever space we find ourselves in.

Primitive anxieties – fear of loss, death and disintegration were returned to again and again.  Through all the clinical case material that was shared, the therapist’s ability to remain centred, reflective and containing while working with extremely complex situations and traumatic emotional states was impressive. Their capacity to create and hold space for the tangle of human relationships and emotions to to be perceived and felt without fixing, instructing or withdrawing – was inspiring.