Psychotherapy in an EBD school: How is psychoanalytic psychotherapy perceived by staff to support a child’s classroom and social learning? A phenomenological study

This thesis explores the perceived value of long-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy in developing children’s learning and their ability to enter into social relationships, with the therapy based in a specialist school for Emotional and Behavioural difficulties (EBD). The qualitative research study approaches this question by exploring the lived experience of school staff who are in contact with pupils receiving treatment, gathering their thoughts and feelings around their perception of the effectiveness of a psychotherapy service embedded in the school. Data was collected via semi-structured interviews with eight members of staff from all three school departments: early years, primary and secondary. An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was employed to identify themes; the findings are discussed and summarised. The study found that participants reported experiencing a positive difference in a pupil’s academic and social learning, not only when in treatment but also after treatment had ended. This, however, was not without its challenges with staff having to manage fluxes in behaviour during the therapeutic process. This sometimes led to a clash in cultures between the therapeutic service and education. The study also highlighted how the psychotherapy service supported the school staff in understanding pupils who were challenging and difficult to understand. This provided containment, which was often found to cascade through the school staff. This was an unexpected finding of the research. Key words: child psychotherapy, containment in schools, CAMHS in schools, secure base, specialist education, qualitative outcome measures, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis