The Caspari Journal of Educational Psychotherapy
The Journal of Educational Psychotherapy is an annual publication which aims to support and influence practice in educational and mental health settings. We publish articles concerning the role of feelings in education, and methods of helping pupils overcome emotional blocks to learning.
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The journal is a valuable resource for teachers, prospective students, current trainees and established Educational Psychotherapists. Our back copies include articles recommended by course lecturers or supervisors and also offer valuable research material, covering many themes central to child mental health. Each edition includes reviews of books relevant to our work.
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The latest issue of the 'Journal of Educational Psychotherapy: Celebrating 50 years 1974 - 2024' is now available to purchase as a digital or physical copy. If you want to purchase a previous edition of the journal, please get in touch with us at hello@caspari.org.uk.
Issue 30, 2024
On 4th June 2024, our Course Director, Lynsey Daniels, organised our Founder’s Day and Graduation Event to celebrate fifty years of the Caspari Foundation. A hybrid meeting (with some attendees in person and some online), we looked back over our charity’s fifty-year history, remembering achievements, publications, locations and people, particularly celebrating the work of Mia Beaumont, one of the founders of Educational Psychotherapy training at Caspari and still a supervising Educational Psychotherapist. We looked forward to the future too, welcoming new trustees, including a new Chair, a new Business Director and new graduates of the Caspari Certificate and Advanced Diploma courses.
The ability to pause in the present, to take time to stop and reflect, helps us to create a narrative of our lives, to find meaning and develop a sense of self. All the authors in this issue have made time to reflect on their experiences, whether through their own work or the work of others, helping to build their personal narrative and that of the Caspari Foundation. We hope that you, the reader, will find time to read the articles, follow some of the references, reflect on their meaning for you and hopefully feel inspired. By sharing our learning and experiences, this journal’s aim is to inform the future, to develop theory and practice, and promote insight.
The following papers explore time from many perspectives, providing a fascinating, multi-dimensional tour of the concept. Some authors share a sense of being closer to an end than a beginning, with a desire to achieve goals or effect change before it’s too late. There are candid descriptions of the challenges of being in the present, as a therapist in a session or a teacher in a classroom, and how these can be thought about and learned from afterwards, on reflection. In the therapeutic setting, we read about the confusing, sometimes painful experiences of children for whom time, people, places and events often make no sense. Their therapists are working with the past in the present to provide a sense of continuity, containment and connection, in the hope of a better future. In her paper Children, Learning and the hope of a better future.
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Contents include:
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Introduction to the work of Mia Beaumont by Lynsey Daniels
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Children, Learning and the Meaning of Time by Mia Beaumont
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Time to think about Time by Lynsey Daniels
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Caspari Foundation’s Therapeutic Teaching by Esther Whyard
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Secrets in the Family by Rosemary Picas
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Re-framing Educational Trauma by Giles Barrow
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Book Review of 'Finding a Way to the Child: Selected Clinical Papers' by Margaret Rustin reviewed by Luke Palmer
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Book Review of 'Coming of Age: How Adolescence Shapes Us' by Lucy Foulkes reviewed by Lynsey Daniels
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Featured extract
Caspari Foundation's Therapeutic Teaching
by Esther Whyard
Esther Whyard’s introduction to Caspari Foundation’s Therapeutic Teaching reveals the impressive amount of time and thought put into meeting her pupils where they are. Working in a variety of settings, sometimes even her car, Whyard takes time to engage at the child’s pace, to wait for them to find the resources they need, and to allow time for processing to take place to help them develop the ability to remember and learn. She explains that Therapeutic Teaching is not the same as Educational Psychotherapy, since it focuses on the learning and not the emotional response; yet, as with therapy, it requires patience, observation skills and the ability to reflect. Whyard encapsulates Therapeutic Teaching in the phrase ‘sideways learning’, being physically and mentally alongside the learner and alert to opportunities to let creativity come through. Her passion and care are evident.
Featured extract
Secrets in the Family
by Rosemary Picas
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Rosemary Picas’ paper Secrets in the Family presents work with two children who had information about important family members withheld from them, making it difficult to form truthful narratives about their lives. They appeared preoccupied with the past and to exist in a perpetually anxious state: anxiety which Picas felt strongly in the sessions and learned to manage over time. The application of psychoanalytic theories from Klein, Winnicott, Bion and Bowlby is clearly described, providing a fundamental framework to help understand the children’s behaviour. While reflecting on the challenge of working with families, we encounter the idea of a ‘right time’ to share difficult news and wonder whether such a time exists. Written as a qualifying paper, Picas reflects on her professional development, showing courage and dedication to her role.
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Featured extract
Re-framing Educational Trauma
by Giles Barrow
Giles Barrow looks back over his as a secondary school teacher. His title, Re-framing Educational Trauma, alerts us to the harm which happens in schools at the individual and systemic level, as well as his new perspective. Past trauma has a disproportionate ability to mpact life in the future and impair life in the present, sabotaging learning. Barrow examines everyday teacher-pupil interactions in excruciating detail, recognising that, as an adult, he was unconsciously repeating the thoughtless behaviour of teachers he had experienced as a child. Looking to the future, he encourages Educational Psychotherapists to work with school staff and the school system to recognise the trauma hidden ‘in plain sight’ and help break the cycle.
We Need You
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We are always looking for new contributors. If you would like to contribute to this publication please email hello@caspari.org.uk by the end of April 2025.
We welcome articles from a range of contributors, including Educational Psychotherapists, other mental health professionals and staff involved with teaching and learning in schools. We aim for a balance of articles by contributors who are highly experienced and sometimes eminent names, alongside fresh, new voices. We are also pleased that several editions, especially in recent years, have included articles by practitioners from other parts of the world, notably South Africa, Greece and the USA.
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Contributions are currently invited for our 31st issue, to be published later in 2025.