TRAINING EVENTS

The focus of clinical work on Watch, Wait, and Wonder has been on developing ways of including the infant more fully in relational psychotherapy. Watch, Wait, and Wonder is a dyadic psychotherapy that works directly and immediately with the relationship through empowering the infant in the therapy. This is achieved by creating a space where the attentive parent allows the infant/child to engage in unimpeded sensorimotor activity and play in order to explore his/her relationship with the parent in his/her own way.

More specifically, in this form of therapy, the parent is asked to follow the infant's/child's spontaneous and undirected activity in much the same way that a therapist observes and follows the lead of an adult patient. Although this infant/child-led approach centres on the infant/child-parent relationship, it is guided by the infant/child activity. Also central to the process is engaging the parent to be reflective about the child’s inner world of feelings, thoughts and desires, through which the parent recognizes the separate self of the infant and gains an understanding of her own emotional responses to her child.

In the workshop, the history and theoretical and technical aspects of Watch, Wait, and Wonder are presented and compared with other common forms of dyadic therapy. Participants will be given the opportunity to observe and reflect using the Watch, Wait, and Wonder therapeutic principles with videotaped material.

Workshop outline

• History and description of Watch, Wait, and Wonder
• Description of other infant/child-led approaches
• Attachment theory as a framework for Watch, Wait, and Wonder
• Assessment of children and families for Watch, Wait, and Wonder
• Watch, Wait, and Wonder Procedure: type and arrangement of toys, instructions, how sessions are organised
• Participant practice in viewing parent-child interactions from an attachment perspective: therapeutic process with the parent-infant/child the therapist's role in Watch, Wait, and Wonder practising the process of observation and reflection
• Exploration of problems and issues that arise in Watch, Wait, and Wonder: for the parent, for the child, for the therapist
• Process: Course of Watch, Wait, and Wonder Using Videotapes and Case Descriptions
• Integrating Watch, Wait, and Wonder into clinical practice
• Watch, Wait, and Wonder – focussing on young children age 8 months to 36 months, with some reference to older children