Minding the Child

"I recommend this book for readers who enjoy reading about new therapeutic endeavors and the creative re-invention of accepted psychodynamic concepts—in this instance, the concept of mentalization."-Saralea Chazan, Journal of Infant, Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy, June 2013

"The book is imbued with respect for different treatment approaches and persepctives but also for the complexity that often characterizes clinical and preventative work. In the projects described the interventions are often combined with research. This is especially inspiring and makes the book even more valuable. It will be important for researchers and clinicians for a long time to come, as a source of both knowledge and inspiration. In a teaching context the book has a broad area of use. It can be used on specialist courses but can also inspire young people, at the beginning of their careers, to work in this field."-Jan - Olov Karlsson, Psychotherapy Research, May 2013

"This book, which is well argued and illustrated with coherent clinical material, will give readers new to the field a good insight into a developing body of work." - Eileen Aird, Therapy Today, July 2012

"There is much of interest here to the child psychotherapist working with children and adolescents whose limited capacity to tolerate anxiety and frustration gets in the way of thinking and relating... The book is well edited by Nick Midgley and Ioanna Vrouva, with individual chapters referring to each other and building up to a carefully crafted whole."- Neil Austin, ACP Bulletin, Winter 2012

Contributions from an impressive list of the key international researchers in this field. The book is written and edited in a style that constantly flows between theoretical understanding and practice, across different types of problems and settings. Even if practitioners use different approaches (which, in any case, are considered as complementary by several participating authors), they will gain interesting techniques in engaging, assessing and treating young people and families who have not responded to mainstream programmes. They can also use those to challenge and influence community, school and hospital systems; and also their own multidisciplinary team working, as presented in the final part of the manuscript. - Panos Vostanis, Child Adolescent Mental Health, 2013

I found this book to be powerful and thought provoking, to the extent that it pervaded my everyday thinking. ... In the book, MBT is considered a useful tool for all psychotherapists and counsellors working with people of all ages, but it promotes its greatest value as being to those working wih children and their families. Teachers might also find this book useful, especially the chapter on the Peaceful Schools Experiment. I found this book interesting and intriguing. The text is quite academic and would therefore be useful to students of psychology. It took me a while to digest some of the ideas held within it, but I felt it was worth the effort. - Judith Sonnenberg, BACP Children & Young Persons, March 2013

Minding the Child is a considered and diligent book, thoughtfully recording the crystallisation of mentalization-based theory and practice based on the work of Fonagy, Bateman, Allen and other colleagues who form the 'Mentalizing Mafiosi'. ... This interesting and thought-provoking book will, I am sure, fuel further thinking as to how flexible and adaptive the child psychotherapist working in CAMHS setting needs to be, especially in such challenging times as these. - Peter Slater, Journal of Child Psychotherapy, Vol. 39 No. 1 2013

This book offers insight that will be of value to a wide range of practitioners working with children and young people. I found myself underlining numerous sentences and passages that capture the essence of complex ideas with great clarity and then, as I read further, returning to them and finding new depth in them. ... This is a book that anyone with an interest in what enables us to function as relational beings in a social world will find value in. It is also one that stands re-reading as it challenges the reader to reflect on the ideas and evidence it presents. - Roger Catchpole, Young Minds Magazine, 1:19, Spring 2013

"This book, which is well argued and illustrated with coherent clinical material, will give readers new to the field a good insight into a developing body of work." - Eileen Aird, Therapy Today, July 2012

"There is much of interest here to the child psychotherapist working with children and adolescents whose limited capacity to tolerate anxiety and frustration gets in the way of thinking and relating... The book is well edited by Nick Midgley and Ioanna Vrouva, with individual chapters referring to each other and building up to a carefully crafted whole."- Neil Austin, ACP Bulletin, Winter 2012

Contributions from an impressive list of the key international researchers in this field. The book is written and edited in a style that constantly flows between theoretical understanding and practice, across different types of problems and settings. Even if practitioners use different approaches (which, in any case, are considered as complementary by several participating authors), they will gain interesting techniques in engaging, assessing and treating young people and families who have not responded to mainstream programmes. They can also use those to challenge and influence community, school and hospital systems; and also their own multidisciplinary team working, as presented in the final part of the manuscript. - Panos Vostanis, Child Adolescent Mental Health, 2013

I found this book to be powerful and thought provoking, to the extent that it pervaded my everyday thinking. ... In the book, MBT is considered a useful tool for all psychotherapists and counsellors working with people of all ages, but it promotes its greatest value as being to those working wih children and their families. Teachers might also find this book useful, especially the chapter on the Peaceful Schools Experiment. I found this book interesting and intriguing. The text is quite academic and would therefore be useful to students of psychology. It took me a while to digest some of the ideas held within it, but I felt it was worth the effort. - Judith Sonnenberg, BACP Children & Young Persons, March 2013

Minding the Child is a considered and diligent book, thoughtfully recording the crystallisation of mentalization-based theory and practice based on the work of Fonagy, Bateman, Allen and other colleagues who form the 'Mentalizing Mafiosi'. ... This interesting and thought-provoking book will, I am sure, fuel further thinking as to how flexible and adaptive the child psychotherapist working in CAMHS setting needs to be, especially in such challenging times as these. - Peter Slater, Journal of Child Psychotherapy, Vol. 39 No. 1 2013

This book offers insight that will be of value to a wide range of practitioners working with children and young people. I found myself underlining numerous sentences and passages that capture the essence of complex ideas with great clarity and then, as I read further, returning to them and finding new depth in them. ... This is a book that anyone with an interest in what enables us to function as relational beings in a social world will find value in. It is also one that stands re-reading as it challenges the reader to reflect on the ideas and evidence it presents. - Roger Catchpole, Young Minds Magazine, 1:19, Spring 2013