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Young peoples’ experiences in education and LGBT+ youth groups: A constructivist grounded theory study
Get PDFThere is a dearth of research exploring the experiences of young people (YP) in community youth group settings (Porta et al., 2017). In this study, five participants aged 14 to 18 were recruited from lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT+) youth groups in the south of England. Intensive interviews were carried out and a constructivist grounded theory (CGT; Charmaz, 2014) analysis was conducted. Participants discussed experiences of being othered and excluded at school, which impacted their mental health and sense of belonging. There were several actions and inactions at a school level which indicated barriers to change and difference, which appeared to be driven by fear. Unmet learning and social needs in school partly influenced YPs’ motivation to attend the LGBT+ youth groups. However, relational empowerment and containment were found in the youth groups and elsewhere, which empowered YP to advocate for themselves and engage in activism on individual and community levels. Despite the challenges faced, participants developed an increasing sense of fluidity and pride. The current findings, combined with the literature, indicate a significant need for greater reflection and training to address the potentially harmful rigidity in discourse and practice around gender and sexuality in the UK. The broader implications for Educational Psychologists (EPs), schools, and wider systems are considered
Exploring Educational Psychologists’ views and experiences of the Power Threat Meaning Framework
Get PDFThe Power Threat Meaning Framework (PTMF) was developed by Clinical Psychologists Johnstone and Boyle (2018a; 2018b, 2020) as an alternative to the psychiatric diagnostic model. A small, emerging research base suggests that the PTMF has had utility for practitioners in a range of disciplines. However, little is known about the use of the PTMF by Educational Psychologists (EPs). The current research took a critical realist and contextualist ‘big Q’ qualitative approach to explore EPs’ views and experiences of using the PTMF. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven EPs and the data was analysed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2021). Seven themes were generated: ‘context as an underacknowledged cause’, ‘need for collaboration’, ‘striving for professional identity’, ‘the power and influence of EPs is constrained’, ‘importance of storytelling’, ‘empowered individuals can be agents of change?’ and ‘it’s easier for individuals to change than systems’. These themes were organised under two overarching themes: ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ and ‘the individual matters’. The PTMF was considered to enhance the empowerment and agency of clients and, for practitioners, to promote reflection about the nature and purpose of the EP role and the dilemmas present within it. While the PTMF facilitated reflection about the systemic causes of clients’ problems, it did not consistently lead to a focus on systemic solutions. Implications for these findings have been discussed
Exploring primary school Senior Mental Health Leads’ experiences of supporting mental health across a school and wider community: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis
Get PDFThe responsibility for schools to support mental health has been on the rise in the past decade. In 2015, the Green Paper, ‘Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision,’ was released. This introduced a variety of initiatives to increase mental health support in schools. One of these initiatives introduced a new role of Senior Mental Health Lead (SMHL). The SMHL is expected to have oversight of a whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing, including supporting staff, pupils and the wider community. The experiences of SMHLs have yet to be discovered, as the role is within its infancy. The current research project aimed to explore the experiences of SMHLs, working in mainstream primary schools. The purpose of the study was to highlight the real-life lived experiences of SMHLs, which could be utilised when planning training and support. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five SMHLs, working within one large Local Authority in England. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to analyse the data. Each participant’s data was analysed to form superordinate themes which were relevant to their individual experience. The superordinate themes were used to form five overarching themes to explore experiences across the whole sample. These themes were: ‘Role and Power’, ‘Whole-School Strategy’, ‘Passion and Pride’, ‘The Wider System’ and ‘Mental Health of SMHL.’ The findings are considered in the context of existing research and the limitations of the study are discussed. The implications for educational psychologists are considered. Suggestions for further research into the role of SMHLs and mental health provision within schools are recommended
Relational trauma and oppression: Clinical work with young men groomed and sexually abused as children
No full textFrom his work in the Portman Clinic with perpetrators and survivors of child sexual abuse, Nathanson explores in detail the process of grooming and links it to theories of oppression. He uses clinical examples to elucidate the process or grooming, taking the perspectives of both perpetrator and victim. He links the process to issues around authority and how these impacts upon the transference
Child Psychotherapy in a paediatric out-patient setting: How can a Brief Intervention Service contribute to the assessment of Under-Fives?
Get PDFThis research study aimed to find out the contribution of a brief parent-child psychoanalytic psychotherapy intervention to the paediatric diagnostic assessment of children aged under-five. Previous literature and research regarding brief under-fives interventions focused on the clinical application of the model. No accounts of what referrers thought of the intervention, as a means to aid their understanding or assessment of a child, had been undertaken.
Three referred children and their parents were offered parent-child psychotherapy sessions based on the Tavistock under-fives clinical model. Data was gathered from parents through standardised outcome measures. A clinical formulation report drawing upon clinical process note data of the sessions was shared with the child’s parents, GP and referring community paediatric clinician. This enabled a bridge to be formed between the clinical intervention and the referring paediatric clinician. A semi-structured interview then took place with the referring community paediatric clinician.
Findings from the clinical intervention were that parents felt the intervention enabled them to understand their child’s emotional and behavioural needs better. Interviews with the paediatric referring community paediatric clinicians found that the intervention was considered valuable in a range of ways. This included confirming a paediatric clinical view of the child, helping to avoid possible mis-diagnosis of a neuro-developmental disorder and providing an intervention for the child where universal and paediatric interventions had already been offered and difficulties continued to be experienced.
Paediatric referrers were able to experience referring to a psychoanalytic child psychotherapy intervention for the first time and consider how this could support them in the future in their diagnostic assessment of young children. The provision of the brief intervention enabled a strengthening in the working relationships between paediatric and CAMHS clinicians
Paedophilia, or Paedophilic Breakdown? The Impetus to Seek Illegal Images Online, and Implications for Clinical Technique
No full textWhen a patient presents for psychotherapy having accessed illegal images of children online, it may be impossible to know at the outset whether this reflects an enduring sexual interest in children, or the transient emergence of paedophilic sexual interest associated with a breakdown in ego functioning. Concerns about risk and the emotive nature of paedophilia may undermine the therapist's or analyst's capacity to tolerate uncertainty and maintain analytic neutrality, leading to premature assumptions about the nature of the underlying pathology. This paper describes the treatment of a patient who had a conviction for viewing indecent images of children online, and the challenge of suspending judgement and maintaining analytic doubt while exploring the meaning of his actions. There was a pressure towards a sadomasochistic transference in which the therapist would be perceived to be cruel if doubting him, but weak and naive if not questioning him. Analytic work over seven years led to a formulation of his acting out as reflecting, not enduring paedophilia, but a ‘paedophilic breakdown’. Changes were evident in his psychic functioning and his external life, as well as in the quality of the therapeutic process. The countertransference challenges of this work are discussed
Designing and working in a service for women with historical child sexual abuse
No full textThe chapter describes the historical background to setting up the specialist arm of the Trauma Service for historical child sexual abuse before outlining the experience and rationale for running a one-year women’s group for this population. One feature that is particularly noted is that of shame, and there is an exploration of this in relation to the use of a specialist group
Creating the conditions for collective curiosity and containment: insights from developing and delivering reflective groups with social work supervisors
Get PDFIn this article, we share our reflections and insights from developing and facilitating small group reflective practice spaces over the last 3 years as part of a government-funded professional development programme for statutory children and families social work supervisors and their managers. Based on formal programme feedback and communication with facilitators and participants, there is clear evidence that participants have valued the space to reflect with peers on the diverse dilemmas they face in their role. We begin by setting the context for including small group spaces in the programme, and outline the theoretical and research frameworks underpinning our approach. Drawing from the sources of evidence outlined above, we explore three key thematic reflections: creating conditions for successful reflective groups; understanding roles and functions within the groups and reflecting on group processes. We conclude the paper by highlighting our learning from both in-person and virtual modes of delivery