Editorial

The papers and articles in this edition rest on the work that has been done by my predecessor Jo Russell in the editorial role, showing a range of preoccupations and perspectives, from an international field of authors. Two of the papers, ‘Different perspectives in measuring processes in psychodynamic child psychotherapy’ by Fredrik Odhammar et al. and ‘Towards emotional containment for staff and patients: developing a Work Discussion group for play specialists in a paediatric ward’ by Anggielina Trelles-Fishman, were originally destined for the most recent special edition (issue 44.3), focussed on experiences of asylum-seeking and refugee children. Although these papers have been accessible online, we are late to publish them now and include here both an apology and excerpts of Jo Russell’s original editorial comment on them. These papers:

‘ … focus in their different ways on the process of therapeutic work. In Anggielina Trelles-Fishman’s paper on developing a work discussion group for hospital play specialists, we find an account of a rather heroic attempt to offer a home for the pain of working with the suffering children of a paediatric ward. In the group’s early stages, she found that ‘focussing on the worker’s feelings for too long would be met with a slight lowering of the heads and silence’. However, as the group develops, an atmosphere of trust is gradually established. Its members begin to feel able to bring their own feelings to the group and thus, importantly, to their work. One member’s developed trust in her own emotional response is such that she actively crosses medical protocol to save a young boy’s life. This paper is written with the compassion and humanity the writer evidently brings to her group.

The second … contributes to the literature on what we might measure and how we might measure it in order to understand processes of change in child psychotherapy. In discussing different perspectives, Fredrik Odhammar and Geoff Goodman identify reflecti