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“Education is not one size fits all”: An exploratory study of professional’s opinions on the educational support needed for young offenders with Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN)
Get PDFNational policy and strategies have emphasised education as a preventative factor of offending and one of the ways to reduce reoffending. However, it is well documented that children and young people (CYP) who offend with Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN) are more likely to not be in education, employment or training (NEET). Thus, this research aims to explore what is needed to support the educational needs of CYP with SLCN who offend. Nine participants with professional links with a Youth Offending Service were recruited from an inner London Local Authority. Semi-structured interviews were used to explore their perspectives, experiences and what support they felt CYP who offend with SLCN needed to access effective education. Interview transcripts were analysed using reflective thematic analysis. Five themes in relation to what the key stakeholders felt is needed to support the educational needs of CYP who offend with SLCN were identified: 1. Better ways of working, 2. Better working with children and young people, 3. Better targeted support, 4. Tackling NEET, and 5. Improving Educational pedagogy. Alongside these key themes, the implications for educational psychology practice and other professionals seeking to support CYP with SLCN who offend were suggested
Clinician experiences of remotely delivering psychodynamic and intensive psychoanalytic psychotherapy within an NHS institution during the COVID-19 pandemic, and possible implications for future clinical practice
No full textWhen it became clear that the COVID-19 pandemic would require significant shifts in working practice, staff in the Adult Complex Needs department at the Tavistock clinic designed a study to explore the emotional impact of remote working on clinicians and patients, and to consider related clinical implications both individually and collectively. A set of semi-structured questions were designed to tap into experiences of working remotely, and clinicians were interviewed. The material arising from these interviews has been summarised into themes. The predominant theme was clinicians’ awareness of the importance of their own emotional milieu in delivering psychoanalytic psychotherapy, especially at a time of crisis, in their initial emotional responses and as they gathered further remote experience. They raised challenges around maintaining an analytic frame amid therapeutic uncertainties, and in the context of the many physical losses of a remote frame: blurred clinical boundaries, altered emotional experiences and resonance, and important impacts on holding, patient attendance, and worsening distress and risks for patients who struggled remotely. Strategies to adapt were key, particularly remaining emotionally consistent and observant amidst uncertainty, and support was paramount to do so. These experiences assist in informing clinicians about the limitations and uses of remote clinical work
An exploration of the views and experiences of Designated Teachers in helping to create an attachment aware school
Get PDFPast research indicates the importance of attachment figures beyond the primary
carer. This is especially relevant to children and young people (CYP) who have
grown up in the care system and are more likely to have attachment needs due to
numerous carers and multiple patterns of attachment formed. Attachment Aware
schools (AAS) aim to meet attachment needs by creating safe, supportive nurturing
environments.
This qualitative, exploratory study aims to shed light on the process of creating an
AAS. Five Designated Teachers (DT)s were interviewed retrospectively a year after
joining the AAS award (AASA) project. DTs from primary schools based in Southeast
England were interviewed remotely or in person. Interview transcripts were analysed
using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to provide insights into the
lived experience of each DT. Individual and shared themes were identified; Five
superordinate themes were identified: ‘Defining features of the AASA’, ‘Motivations
to join the AASA’, ‘Factors that facilitated the success of the project’, ‘Potential
barriers to the success of the project’ and ‘What does change look like?’.
This research provides insight into defining the features of AAS, what helps to create
systemic change in schools, as well as insights into the changes created from whole
school training based on trauma, attachment and action research focus. This
research offers first-hand insights into an area of limited study and has wider
applicability to other sectors. Future research could explore the perspectives of
service users to strengthen the validity of the approach
Beginnings of Psychotherapy with adopted children and young people: A Grounded Theory analysis
Get PDFThis thesis focuses on the beginnings of psychotherapy with adopted children and young people, since to date there is no empirical data available concerning an in-depth look at beginnings of psychotherapy with this group. It aims to shed light on the process of beginning of psychotherapy for adopted children and young people, to understand the emotional ramifications of beginning therapy, identify the common themes, and explore the therapeutic technique used in these initial encounters. Beginnings is a key theme in adoption, as a significant number of adopted children and young people have had distressing early life experiences of neglect, loss and abandonment. Methods: Nine sets of process notes (notes written by psychotherapists after the session to record what happened in it) from three sequential 50-minute psychotherapy assessment sessions belonging to three patients, were analysed using psychoanalytically informed grounded theory. A literature review was also performed. Findings: The literature search revealed a significant gap, finding no current publications into beginnings or opening sessions of psychotherapy for adopted children and young people. Analysis of the sessions identified six core categories of findings which include: establishing the framework and practical setting; difficulty in relating; alterations of technique; embodied unspeakable communication; patient and therapist being nice to one another; and feelings of exclusion and deprivation. The most frequent therapeutic techniques identified involved using an active, enquiring and non-challenging manner. Conclusions: This study identifies some of the challenges of getting to know someone at the start of therapy, particularly fears of rejection and elements of confusion. It shows how attention should be paid to the beginnings of psychotherapy for adopted children and young people since depth and meaning can be gained from them. This understanding has the potential to benefit the rest of the therapeutic process
Compassionate Leadership: an antidote to tyranny
No full textThe resignation of Dominic Raab following the inquiry led by Adam Tolley KC provides a helpful focus on the culture of leadership in politics and in our wider society.
Dominance hierarchies are as old as time itself, but we are evolved beyond our crustacean forebearers. Dominance is not an inevitability: there are more evolved ways to lead social groups that enhance productivity and mental wellbeing. The way power is exercised is complex. It can be rooted in threat, focused on getting the task done, with little regard for the experience of those lower in the pecking order. On the other hand, it can be underpinned by compassion, where the motivation is affiliative, collegiate, promotes social safeness, leading to greater productively and mental wellbeing.
What is the right formula for leadership, and what gets the job done
What are trainee Child and Adolescent Psychotherapists’ experiences of working with patients they identify as of a different race to themselves?
Get PDFThis study explores the experiences of trainee child and adolescent psychotherapists working with patients they identify as of a different race to themselves. It begins with a literature review the findings of which establish that race, and more broadly difference, has been marginalised within the psychoanalytic profession. In this study five students enrolled on the Tavistock and Portman’s child and adolescent psychoanalytic psychotherapy training were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. Alongside a field diary, the interviews comprised the phenomenological data for the project. These interviews were transcribed and analysed using the qualitative method of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). This analysis produced four superordinate themes scaffolded by a number of subordinate themes. The first superordinate theme ‘Emotional responses to talking about race’ was made up of three subordinate themes: ‘Fear & Anxiety’, ‘Danger/breakdown and primitive feelings’ and ‘Hard to think’. The second superordinate theme ‘Location of the difference’ consisted of three subordinate themes: ‘In the patient’, ‘In the therapist’, and ‘Both/avoided’. The third superordinate theme ‘Clinical Technique’ produced two subordinate themes ‘Whose responsibility is it?’ and ‘Bringing race into the transference’. The final superordinate theme examined ‘The role of the training, service supervision and analysis’. The study highlights how alive race is in the minds of the therapists interviewed and yet how often it can be absent or avoided in their work. Clear distinctions are made between the participants identifying as white and black in both their emotional responses to talking about race and clinical technique. The need for greater amounts of support for trainees to enable them to engage more openly with their patients is highlighted. Finally, a number of implications for practice are discussed. My role as a white, male researcher and its impact on the research is considered throughout the thesis
Children’s experiences of migration to the United Kingdom and adaptation in British primary schools: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis study
Get PDFThe United Kingdom (UK) is a culturally diverse society, which has witnessed an increase in migration over the years. Despite this, not enough is known about migrant children’s experiences from their perspective, particularly those in primary schools. This research explored first-generation migrant children’s experiences of migration to the UK and adaptation in primary schools. This study aimed to gain insight how children make sense of the migration process, and the role school plays in their adaptation. By providing an opportunity for children to tell their stories, the study also aimed to provide a platform for their voices to be heard. Seven migrant children, aged between 6 to 11, were recruited through purposive sampling from primary schools in an inner-London borough. Semi- structured interviews were used to collect data and interpreters were used where necessary. Drawings were incorporated in the interview process as a stimulus for discussion. The data collected was transcribed and analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, to provide an in-depth exploration of individual children’s experiences, while also allowing for similarities and differences across their experiences to be explored. Five Group Experiential Themes were identified from participants’ experiences: ‘Migration: The Move, The Journey and Sense- Making’, ‘Life in the UK’, ‘Relationships: Loss, Changes and a Key to Adaptation’, ‘Adjusting to a New Linguistic Context’, ‘School Adaptation: Interconnection of Language, Social Factors and Learning’. Findings are presented then considered within the context of relevant literature and theoretical frameworks. Implications for migrant children and their families, schools and Educational Psychologists are discussed, alongside the study’s limitations and areas for future research
When to wait and when to act? An exploration of child psychotherapists’ work with risky adolescents
Get PDFRisks taken by adolescents presenting to mental health services can be seen as a communication that, through treatment, can be understood. Psychotherapy can be thought of as an offer of time in which ‘waiting with’ a patient is therapeutic. However, this approach can conflict with the culture of pressured CAMHS services where the pull to act in response to patients’ distress is strong. This research looks at how Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapists (CAPT) manage the tension between the theoretical stance of waiting and an organisational pull to act. It focuses on adolescent patients who pose a risk to themselves from serious self-harm or suicidal ideation. Five interviews were conducted with CAPTs from clinics within a single NHS Trust where the dominant culture is one of fast action, without psychoanalytic thinking at the fore. Grounded Theory was used to pull together psychoanalytic thinking with data generated through interviewing. Reflexivity of the researcher’s framing of the study, and influence on the interviews, is explored. Key findings: (1) a strong focus was seen on a specific kind of thoughtful action described here as an enhanced therapeutic dyad. It involved a process in which parents were sensitively brought into the therapeutic relationship and requested to take responsibility for certain actions to ensure their child’s safety. The purpose of this action is primarily patient safety, but also promotes long-term change. (2) The impact of an organisation’s capacity to acknowledge the presence of anxieties arising from the work on the ability of clinicians to contain patient anxieties and wait rather than act was noted. The first finding was unexpected and a recommendation is made for an explicit focus, during CAPT training, on the use of thoughtful action as part of therapeutic work with risky adolescents in pressured NHS services
Creative inspiration under gathering clouds: Milestones in the development towards systemic social work
No full textIn this article, I would like to take you on a personal journey through some of the key milestones that have helped to construct what is now known as systemic social work with children and families. I want to acknowledge those who have helped me in my development from starting out as a social worker in the late 1990s to a systemic therapist, trainer and mentor now. These include well known authors and those who may not be known but deserve a mention