Emotional Needs of Young Children and Their Families

Judith Trowell is Consultant Child Psychiatrist and Psychoanalyst at the Tavistock Clinic, London. Marion Bower is Senior Psychiatric Social Worker at White City Child Guidance Unit, London.

`This volume, rich with some eminently realisable projects, has its own dynamic compelling the reader to experience constant shifts of emotion, to know the world of the young child, to listen, to think and to do something.' - Journal of Social Work Practice`This book makes an important contribution in bringing the emotional needs of young children to the foreground, and in highlighting the demands that receptivity to their feelings place on the professionals working with disturbed children.' - British Journal of Psychotherapy'This ambitious and timely book...deserves a wide readership amongst those who work with children.' - Health and Social Care in the Community'A useful reference volume for those looking for an introduction to psychodynamic understanding in their work with children and young people. It should appeal to a multidisciplinary readership and will, I hope, be read particularly by health visitors and field and residential workers. It is especially relevant at a time when the implementation of the Children Act emphasizes the responsibilities of all agencies involved in the health and welfare of children to work co-operatively together, an exercise in which a greater understanding of group dynamics will be essential.' - Journal of Child Psychotherapy

• 1 Introduction: the social context 2 Key psychoanalytic concepts 3 Early applications: children and institutions Link section: individuals and families 4 The contribution of observation training to professional development 5 Consulting to premature baby units 6 Consultation in General Practice 7 Psychodynamic family therapy with parents and under-5s 8 A psychoanalytic approach to the work of the guardian ad litem 9 Getting better makes it worse: obstacles to improvement in children with emotional and behavioural difficulties, Link section: groups, 10 White City Toy Library: a therapeutic group for mothers and under-5s, 11 The Monroe Young Family Centre, 12 Bringing about change in parent–child relationships, 13 Educational intervention for young children who have experienced fragmented care, 14 A community group for abused children 15 A community group for depressed mothers and its relation to health visitors 16 Moving on: group work with children from a multicultural primary school, Link section: organisations 17 The development of the self in children in institutions 18 Issues in residential work 19 What is good day care? Link section: social issues 20 Cross-cultural issues and racism in a multi-cultural society 21 Working to support refugee children in schools 22 Refugee children in exile in Europe 23 Children and violence, Endpiece