Who Is Treating the Children? Training Child and Family Psychoanalytic Psychotherapists in China

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article traces the development and evolution of The Psychodynamic Couple and Family Therapy Continuous Training Program in Beijing, China since its founding in 2009 as a two-year series of four immersion experiences in couple therapy training. The program’s learning components include a live clinical demonstration, didactic lectures, and small process learning groups. In the past 10 years, program faculty opted to include a child and family focus to address the relative absence of child psychodynamic psychotherapy training in China and the increasing mental health needs of Chinese children. Research on the training’s effectiveness is presented, highlighting the importance of the live clinical demonstration to the group’s learning, and supporting the importance of showing clinical theory and technique in action. Required adaptations from an in-person to an online training format owing to COVID are discussed. Examples drawn from the clinical demonstration, small process learning groups, and later emerging consultation groups are offered to show applications of the training model, challenges in learning, and cultural differences. The author contends that this training program and its extensions rely on the strong working alliance of its founders and illustrate the value of cross-cultural collaboration in training and treatment efforts.