Reflecting on Reality

Primary care and psychotherapy are in some ways worlds apart. Yet both deal with the same human fundamentals: birth, and death, hope and disappointment, identity and uncertainty. This innovative book looks at how psychotherapists can make use of their skills in primary care. It examines how therapists, family physicians and other primary care professionals can all learn from each other through clinical collaboration. Each chapter describes a different practical approach to joint working in a range of primary care settings, across the life cycle. Specific topics include services for children and adolescents, working with immigrants, and live supervision. All the authors are connected with the Tavistock Clinic, and are psychotherapists or family physicians. The book challenges psychotherapists and those who work in primary care to develop closer working relationships, so that they can deliver more effective and more equitable services.

John Launer is on the senior staff of the Tavistock Clinic in London, the leading training institute in the UK for psychological treatment, and is the Associate Dean for postgraduate medical education at the University of London. He is a doctor and family therapist, and a renowned medical columnist both nationally and internationally.

1. Introduction, 2 A child psychotherapist in the baby clinic of a general practice: standing by the weighing scales thirty years on, 3. A model for a primary-care-based child and family mental health service, 4.A systemic outreach clinic in primary care: which tier is that?  5. Supervision and general practice: towards a reflecting position, 6. When the patient and family are from somewhere else: narratives of migration in therapy, 7. Cross-cultural work in the community, 8. A Sure Start rapid-response service for parents and their under fours 9. Making meaning out of the mess: developing the mental health role of health visitors, 10. The practice as patient: working as a psychotherapist in general practice 11. Bridging the gap: experiences at the interface of primary care and a psychotherapy institution. References. Index.