Blog

Working remotely with couples in response to social distancing can feel like doing therapy in a ‘sensory-deprivation tank’. But it can also bring unexpected benefits. Psychologist and author Brad E. Sachs continues his timely blog series with an exploration of the pros and cons of online couples work – including the window we may obtain into their home environment and interactions.

How is Covid-19 impacting, and illuminating, our work with intimate partnerships? Beginning a new blog series about conducting online therapy with couples, psychologist and author Brad E. Sachs considers the way in which all couples therapy mimics quarantine – and the importance of establishing ground rules.

How can we shape an emotionally healthy education system in the wake of lockdown? Emma Connor, child psychotherapist and director of Your Space Therapies, concludes her blog series by sharing her formula for creating therapeutic school communities – and issuing a passionate plea to therapists and schools to seize this vital opportunity.

Loosening boundaries, background intrusions, slow progress, physical exhaustion… and precious moments of domestic insight, laughter, and client autonomy. Jude Boyles looks back on her first 10 weeks of conducting online and phone therapy with resettled Syrian refugees.

The concept of resilience can be unhelpful and even shaming when wielded without proper understanding, leading to the formation of false selves. In the penultimate part of her blog series supporting the reopening of schools, child psychotherapist and director of Your Space Therapies Emma Connor discusses her love-hate relationship with the term, and shares some ways in which schools can foster true resilience.

Gender identity isn’t just a subject for our gender variant clients. We all have a gender identity, including those of us who may never have had cause to question it. Therapist and transgender consultant Madison-Amy Webb, the author of a recent practitioners guide to the subject, explains why giving thought to our own gender identity is an essential reflective practice for therapists.

Joy might not be the first item on the staff meeting agenda as schools reopen following the Covid-19 pandemic. But, argues Emma Connor, it can be the best medicine – for both pupils and teachers. In the fifth part of her blog series, the child psychotherapist and director of Your Space Therapies urges schools not to miss opportunities for mutual joy in the classroom, and suggests why a game of Hide and Seek should be in every teacher’s Covid-19 recovery box.