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Through assessment to consultation: independent psychoanalytic approaches with children and adolescents, edited by Ann Horne and Monica Lanyado, London, Routledge, 2009, 208 pp., £17.99
Drawing on the Independent tradition of psychoanalysis, this edited volume of 12 chapters explores the role of child psychotherapists who undertake assessment and consultation work in a variety of settings. Through assessment to consultation is not a handbook, but demonstrates the diversity of ways in which child psychotherapists are working indirectly with children and their families. The book introduces the idea of ‘assessment in progress’, assessment as a continuous thinking process towards reaching a formulation which is a working diagnosis. In the same way, consultation requires active thinking to heighten awareness of the unconscious dynamics operating within professional networks and staff teams.
The introduction, by the editors Ann Horne and Monica Lanyado, uses ideas from Winnicott to suggest that ‘we aim at being ourselves by keeping a compassionate clinical sense that does not abuse the analytic method even while we explore extremes of technique and understanding to wide range of settings’ (p. 4). Another way of putting it is that they are ‘doing something else’ or working as psychotherapists while not working directly with patients.
The book is organised into three sections, reflecting a continuum the editors see from assessment through to consultation.
The first section considers assessment for a number of different purposes and in a number of specialist settings. In chapter two, ‘Every assessment matters’, Mary Walker explains the child psychotherapist's role in assessment in child and adolescent mental health settings. This is a helpful description of the process, distinguishing core assessments and specialist assessments for individual child psychotherapy. Consideration is given to the role of the child psychotherapist within the assessment framework