A cognitive analytic approach for working alongside young people

Abstract

Abstract With heightened demand for evidence-based therapeutic support for children and young people, cognitive analytic therapy (CAT) is well placed to offer ways of working, both directly and indirectly, that have significant impact on young people’s distress and difficulties. As a therapeutic model that is both integrative and transdiagnostic, CAT is fundamentally a relational approach, that allows us to think developmentally as well contextually within and around the therapeutic space. When working alongside young people, CAT embraces a culture of collaboration and co-production that many young people find respectful and accessible, where creativity is embraced and encouraged, seeking to work where the young person is at, working within their zone of proximal development (ZPD) rather than where services expect them to be at. Likewise, CAT acknowledges the complexity of young people’s lives and circumstances and does not seek to offer simplistic or reductionistic answers but engages with some of the uncertainties that they face, allowing for a more fluid, less-binary experience to be validated. CAT allows us to work alongside young people, families and/or networks, where we can offer relationally informed support and understanding, which can be impactful at an individual level through to wider service development. This chapter articulates how CAT offers a meaningful approach for young people by placing relational skills at its core. Recognizing the developing self within the context of a social and relational world opens a myriad of opportunities for where and how we might can be in dialogue with young people.