Winnicott's Children

Winnicotts Children focuses on the use we make of the thinking and writing of DW Winnicott; how this has enhanced our understanding of children and the settings where we work, and how it has influenced the way in which we do that work. It is a volume by clinicians, concerned about how, as well as why, we engage with particular children in particular ways. The book begins with a scholarly and accessible exposition of the place of Winnicott in his time, in relation to his contemporaries Melanie Klein, Anna Freud, John Bowlby and the development of his thinking. The dual focus on the earliest experience of the infant and its consequences plus the how of engaging with children as good-enough mothers or good enough therapists is picked up in the chapters that follow. The role of play is central to a chapter on supervision; struggling through the doldrums can be part of the adolescents experience and that of those who engage with him; the role of psychotherapy in a Winnicottian therapeutic community and an inner city secondary school is explored; and a chapter on radio work links us personally with Winnicott and his desire to talk plainly and helpfully to parents. There is a richness in the collection of subjects in this book, and in the experience of the writers. It will appeal to those who work with children in child and family mental health settings, schools, hospitals, colleges and social care settings.