An inquiry into the challenges experienced by trainee child and adolescent psychotherapists undertaking parent-work with parents of children receiving psychoanalytic psychotherapy

The role of parents is key to the success of any intervention in child development and psychotherapy. However, parent-work is minimally explored and understood when it comes to working with children and young people, especially from the perspectives of child and adolescent psychotherapy trainees. In this explorative study, eight trainees have been interviewed using semi-structured interviews. This study highlights a lack of certainty and clarity amongst trainees in their understanding of the nature of parent-work, and great variations in focus-areas within the work. Further findings identified that failure to agree and establish parent-work aims early on created issues associated with the therapeutic alliance. When this work has been overlooked, trainees have been challenged with overcoming barriers created by parents to engage in the work, often exacerbated by managing relationship dynamics between parents and the wider professional network involved with the family, which can give rise to confidentiality issues. These findings suggest that uncertainty and a lack of clarity regarding the nature of parent-work influences trainees both in their practice and in their training, where parent-work feels de-prioritised in terms of attention given to the training. Furthermore, there are wider issues concerning the limited resources available to trainees at their service placements, which jeopardises their development due to a lack of parent-work opportunities and sufficient supervision. Overall, findings indicate the need for a common, agreed conception of parent-work, or at least more transparency on the variety of parent-work, to empower trainees to use their best judgement. Because parent-work is particularly difficult, it should be more highly prioritised at multiple levels, including in training and supervision. Although this research focuses on only one clinic, given the scarcity of research on this topic overall, there is great potential for this study to be expanded upon by further research. Keywords: Child and adolescent psychotherapy; child and adolescent psychotherapy training; parallel parent work; parent support; parent-work aims; parent-work training; parental involvement; psychoanalytic parent work; psychodynamic parent work; therapeutic alliance with parents.