Helping the Helpers: Consultation to Childcare Staff Using Psychoanalytically Informed Developmental Concepts

Abstract

This article reports on a consultation project with the early childhood staff at Little Sisters of the Assumption (LSA) Health Center in East Harlem, New York City. LSA serves immigrant families, especially Mexican mothers and toddlers, currently unable to return to Mexico to visit those left behind, i.e., children, parents, etc. Because of their status, they cannot return to the United States if they leave.

The project had a dual purpose: to heighten staff members's observational skills and their ability to elicit accurate developmental information, so that they could use psychodynamic principles to design interventions that increase mother's reflective functioning in relation to her child. With mother being more mindful, most of the children were able to resume age-appropriate development. Once capable of sensitively observing these families, the staff's ability to conceptualize the mother–child dynamic markedly improved. Mothers, toddlers, and staff members benefited.

Notes

Phyllis Ackman, Ph.D., is in private practice in New York City with adults, and does dyadic work with mothers and infants. She is a supervising and training analyst at the New York Freudian Society. She is a consultant to the Early Childhood Program at Little Sisters of the Assumption Health Center and on the core faculty of the Institute for Infant Child and Families of JBFCS. She was formerly coordinator of the Parent–Infant and Toddler Nursery Program at Pace University, where she was Adjunct Professor of Psychology.