Blog

Professionalism can be a mask that perpetuates imposter syndrome and prevents us really connecting with our supervisor. Robin Shohet, whose latest book explores the role and function of this relationship, explores the importance in supervision of sharing that which we most want to hide.

Bowlby described the experience of being held in mind as one of life’s great privileges. How might teachers share this with children from whom they have been separated during lockdown? In the fourth part of her blog series supporting the reopening of schools, Emma Connor, child psychotherapist and director of Your Space Therapies, introduces some useful classroom resources for reinforcing invisible attachments, from ‘borrow boxes’ to therapeutic stories.

Animal-assisted psychotherapy is on the rise. But what does it really entail, and who can it help? Hannah Clarke, equine-assisted psychotherapist, trainer and proud owner of Colin the Therapy Pig, explains the animal ‘magic’ – from establishing trust to exploring projections, and the transformative power of limbic resonance.

How can therapists help children and teachers to process the losses they experienced with lockdown? What is the link between a good goodbye and a healthy hello? In the third part of her blog series supporting the reopening of schools, Emma Connor, child psychotherapist and director of Your Space Therapies, outlines the importance of ritual and ceremony, ordering trauma, and facilitating a textured experience of loss.

When it comes to helping clients with ‘borderline’ presentations, our capacity to contain and make sense of their underlying state of mind is vital. But it may also be uniquely tested. Ahead of an online training in June, psychoanalytic psychotherapist and former psychiatric nurse Marcus Evans outlines key features of working with BPD, including managing projections, the danger of premature interpretation, and the role of supervision in providing a psychic space where we can process often intense countertransference reactions.

Children don’t need their teachers to be heroes as they return to classrooms following the Covid-19 school closures. It’s much more important to be ‘good enough’. In the second part of her blog series supporting the reopening of schools, Emma Connor, child psychotherapist and director of Your Space Therapies, explains why the mental health of school staff must come first – and shares three simple ideas for helping teachers to emotionally self-regulate.

Counselling and therapy trainings rarely cover psychiatry in much depth. So what happens when the two fields overlap in practice? As an NHS psychiatrist trained in person-centred counselling, and the author of a new book about psychiatry for counsellors, Dr Rachel Freeth is often asked how therapists can gauge whether a psychiatric referral is in their client’s best interest. As she explains here, there are no easy answers – but understanding the factors at play in such a decision is a good place to start.

As schools begin to reopen their doors to more pupils this week, Emma Connor, child psychotherapist and director of Your Space Therapies, embarks on a vital blog series aimed at supporting children and teachers through this transition. Over the next seven Fridays, she will be introducing therapeutic ways of thinking and practical strategies that can help us all stand beside schools at this time – beginning with the opportunity, hidden within the rupture of school closures, for a profound and far-reaching experience of repair.

Lockdown has led to a surge of interest in expressive writing. Ahead of National Writing Day later this month (June 24), therapeutic writing facilitator Anne Taylor reflects on the power of putting pen to paper to reduce anxiety and help us access meaning – and shares three writing prompts to get both therapists and therapy clients started.