The child therapist’s challenge is to remobilize a child’s forward movement after a developmental derailment has occurred. In this paper, drawing on Winnicott’s concept of transitional object and Tolpin’s concept of tendril of health, I discuss how, within the therapeutic relationship, the psychotherapist comes to serve a transitional object-like function for the child thereby catalyzing the resumption of forward movement. A clinical case is elaborated to illustrate how this process is facilitated by a therapeutic stance of empathic alertness and non-judgmental attentiveness.