Online child psychotherapy and the pandemic – vignettes from the Canadian Association of Psychoanalytic Child Therapists

Abstract

ABSTRACT At a time when psychoanalytic psychotherapists are struggling worldwide to provide ongoing psychotherapy to children and adolescents during the current pandemic, this paper provides three vignettes, which focus on the impact of the pandemic and of providing psychotherapy online. These vignettes elaborate on contributions made to ‘Town Hall’ meetings of the Canadian Association of Psychoanalytic Child Therapists. We describe some of what we have learned in our efforts to provide online therapy during this disjointed time. We conclude by reflecting on the crucial importance of peer groups meeting together to contain our own pandemic anxieties, to maintain the therapeutic frame in online treatment, and to be supportive of the internal psychic frames of our patients, all of which have been battered during the pandemic.