This book provides the history, theory, and practice of work discussion as developed at the Tavistock Clinic. It describes the evolution and contemporary practice of work discussion in relation to a wide range of professional work with children, adolescents, and families.

Series Editor’s Preface -- Foreword -- Introduction -- Work Discussion: An Overview -- Work discussion: some historical and theoretical observations -- The work discussion seminar: a learning environment -- What’s happening? Some thoughts on the experience of being in a work discussion group -- Work discussion groups at work: applying the method -- Case Studies -- Work in educational settings -- “Struggling with manifold disillusionment”: a non-directive drama therapy group for adolescents who have learning disabilities -- Becoming a learning mentor in an infant school -- A therapeutic approach to working with primary-school children -- A creative arts project in a primary school: the impact of “bizarre artefacts” in the classroom -- Work in health and residential settings -- Working with sick children in a hospital setting -- Trauma and containment in children’s cancer treatment -- Developing a containing relationship with a child living in a residential setting -- Work with vulnerable families -- Working within a refugee community -- Providing a play setting for children visiting parents in prison -- Emotional numbing and mindlessness as a phenomenon in residential assessment work -- International Contributions -- “Sibonye is stuck …”: the work discussion model adapted to South African conditions -- Parenting a new institution -- Work discussion seminars with the staff of a children’s home for street children in Puebla, Mexico -- Epilogue -- Work discussion: implications for research and policy