Early intervention can decrease the risk that emotional and behavioural difficulties in early childhood, develop into emotional disorders and pathological behaviours in adulthood. A Child Psychotherapy Outreach Service was established in the nursery school of the Randolph Beresford Early Years Centre to offer psychotherapeutic support to children and parents and consultations to staff. The Service is described briefly. The results of an independent audit and evaluation of the service are presented. Mothers of eight children and 10 staff members were interviewed to evaluate the Service and identify additional needs of service-users. Content and Thematic Analysis of interviews revealed that participants appreciated being heard, understood and contained by the psychotherapist. While mothers emphasised improvements in their child's behaviour and mood, staff reported increased understanding of the children's communications and behaviours. The evaluation showed that the location of the Service in the nursery is crucial for engaging the hard-to-reach population. These words, spoken by a mother of a three-year-old boy attending the nursery school of the Randolph Beresford Early Years Centre (RBEYC), reflect the understanding and empowerment she felt she gained through her meetings with the Child Psychotherapist based in the nursery. In the following article,
This article argues that Anna Freud's diagnostic aim of assessing a child's developmental status to obtain a picture of the child's total personality remains central and relevant to contemporary child mental health. It introduces the work of a research group at the Anna Freud Centre which reexamined Anna Freud's Provisional Diagnostic Profile (1965), in 2001 and again in 2016, to include contemporary developmental psychology and attachment research. The resulting 2016 revised Diagnostic Profile is published in this issue for the first time.
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