Bringing Our Histories into School-Based Therapy

Lyn French is a psychotherapist, supervisor, and author with over 25 years’ experience in the field of school-based psychotherapy. She is the Director of A Space, a psychotherapy service running in partnership with the London Borough of Hackney. A Space and the Institute of International Visual Arts (iniva) have co-published numerous sets of emotional learning cards which use contemporary art along with commentary and questions by Lyn designed to open up conversations in and outside of therapy sessions. Reva Klein is a child and adolescent counsellor and adult psychoanalytic psychotherapist. She supervises therapists at A Space, and sees clients and supervisees in private practice. Reva has written extensively on children’s mental health issues.

Introduction 1. Not a Blank Slate: The Role of Our Own History in Our Therapeutic Work 2. Stepping into the Unknown: Reflections on Transitions 3. Shame, Guilt, Secrets and Lies: How Differentness Within and Outside the Family Shapes our Sense of Self 4. Feeling Dislocated: Some Personal and Clinical Reflections on the Experiences of Relocated Families 5. Mother and Other Tongues: Personal Experiences and Clinical Reflections 6. The Biafran War: A Transgenerational Legacy 7.Sibling Death: Mourning in Childhood and Beyond 8. Separation and Loss in Adolescence: The Impact of the Iranian Revolution 9. Holding on Tightly, Learning to Let Go: Personal Experiences and Clinical Reflections 10. Masculinity and the Male Therapist: The Internal and External Struggles 11. Suspended Animation: A Traumatic Family History Without a Context 12. My Story, Our Story: Co-Parenting Two Adopted Boys 13. One of Many: The Impact of Growing Up in a Large Family 14. The Search for Belonging: An Unfolding Story 15. The Meaning of Home: The Loss of the 'Motherland' and How This Shapes the Formation of Identity 16. Parenting a Child Through a Life-Threatening Illness: Then and Now Epilogue