"Clinical techniques for working with children in agency practice and parent-child therapy: The legacy of Selma Fraiberg" April 23rd 12:15 to 1:45 Room 2E02
The Magic Years of Selma Fraiberg: Clinician, Researcher, Writer Over a career of nearly forty years, Selma Fraiberg’s integration of social work, psychoanalysis and Piaget’s theory of cognitive development had a profound impact on infant mental health, child development and therapy, and the larger community. Many consider her the most influential clinical social worker of the past century. Her classic work on child development, The Magic Years, has sold over one million copies, has been translated into 11 languages and has been in print for over 50 years. Fraiberg’s pioneering clinical initiatives with high-risk mother-infant dyads launched the field of infant mental health and her article “Ghosts in the Nursery” has been cited over 2000 times, continuing to inform clinicians today.
In this talk, the presenter, using videos of Fraiberg’s innovative work, will outline Fraiberg’s career arc: its beginning in group work with disadvantaged children, her unconventional training in psychodynamic therapy, her research and clinical interventions with blind children, her groundbreaking innovations in infant mental health and, of course, her prolific writings for both lay and professional audiences. The presentation will continue by describing Fraiberg’s innovations in child-parent psychotherapy as well as her clinical techniques for working with children in agency practice.
Joel Kanter, MSW, LCSW-C is in private practice of clinical social work in Silver Spring. He is a faculty member at the Institute for Clinical Social Work, has been recognized as a Distinguished Practitioner by the National Academy of Practice in Social Work, and is a Consulting Editor of the Clinical Social Work Journal. His publications include over 35 articles and chapters in an array of social work and mental health publications, Clinical Studies in Case Management (Jossey-Bass, 1995) and Face to Face with Children: The Life and Work of Clare Winnicott (Karnac, 2004)