Infant Observation and the Kelnar Prize

In 2017, I was honoured to be invited to talk about infant observation at a British Psychotherapy Foundation morning celebrating the winners of the Kelnar prize.1 This paper is an adaptation of the talk I gave at the time, in which I tried to weave generalizations about infant observation into the specifics of the paper.

Having the opportunity to read and think about prize-winning papers is in itself a delight. Over the years I have read many papers written at the end of a one- or two-year observation, some for Master's qualification and some for the ‘gateway’ on to the next stage of training. Here we are seeing a paper in which things are carefully observed and often beautifully described - such as the phrase ‘as mother and baby interact, sound travels along an invisible umbilical cord between them’.

In introducing Sally Arthur's paper, I will try to first of all share my thoughts about Gemma (the observed baby) and her family, and then comment on what I see as the tasks of infant observation and how these relate to the process of becoming a psychotherapist.

I am always interested in what it is that influences a family to agree to be observed, while being immensely grateful to their generosity in allowing this. The observer-author wonders about the containment that she may be providing, and there is also quite a lot of emphasis on Helen's (Gemma's mother) own experience of therapy as a child, as well as the more usual tangle of the wish to be admired and the anxiety that all may not be as lovely as it is presented as being. Sally comments on Helen's very nearly single parent status and an observer can certainly fulfil the function of being someone else who is almost as interested in the baby as the mother is. Helen's extreme devotion to the task of mothering may reflect a wish to be seen as creating something wonderful - Sally's paper after all was initially entitled ‘A star is born’, with its reference both to the cosmos and to the sense of specia