As well as working with the emotional and psychological impact of serious or longstanding illness, Child & Adolescent Psychotherapists are well positioned within paediatric settings to address the emotional context of an illness and also of medically unexplained symptoms.
The task of the child psychotherapist - who plays no role in the medical care of the patient - is to reflect with the patient (and parent/carer) on their experience, their capacity for adaptation to the reality of their illness, i.e. treatment and prognosis, and to enable the expression of difficult feelings such as deep fear, anger, anxiety and sadness. Child & Adolescent psychotherapists recognize and foster emotional resources, but they also look carefully at the difficult undercurrents that can be played out in the context of an illness which children and families might not be aware of. An intervention that can consider different levels of awareness can help to recognize deep seated resistances to treatment as well as overreliance in the medical world. Child & Adolescent Psychotherapists are trained to have a thorough understanding of child development. Their input also aims to help the child or young person return to their developmental trajectory, which may well have been disrupted by the illness. The benefits of psychotherapeutic support described above will improve health outcomes for children and young people (Add reference ?).
Child & Adolescents Psychotherapists working in paediatrics perform a variety of functions. These include the following:
- Assessment and psychotherapeutic work with children, adolescents and parents/ carers or other family members.
- Consultation and joint work with other members of the multidisciplinary paediatric-team involved in the child’s care.
- Staff support
- Contributing or conducting audits, research studies and evaluation
- Participating at a strategic, service or policy level within the wider system to improve care for children