We’re getting used to new lyrics to a familiar tune (God save our gracious King… Send him victorious…), another adjustment in the long line of adjustments we’ve been compelled to make over the last two-and-a-half years.
Whether you’re a royalist or not, you might find yourself dancing, if not singing, to someone else’s tune: bosses, spouses, professional organisations, energy companies, governments, monarchs, the list goes on. I’m playing with language here, as regular readers will know I often do, and reflecting on the ‘new’ jargon which has become commonplace.
I’ve been working from home since long before WFH was a thing. Usually, I don’t meet contributors whose work I edit, or editors who edit mine in real life (IRL), but we forge electronic relationships: we email, we tweet, we zoom.
In September, I presented at the BACP Private Practice conference, a hybrid affair, with interactive polling and Q&A, both online and IRL. For a self-confessed technophobe, this was daunting, but OK. Better than OK, actually; it was exciting and stimulating and allowed for much greater access, creativity and connection with a much greater number of people. It was a pleasure and a privilege to be welcomed so warmly by members of our sibling division. (Why don’t BACP divisions collaborate more often? Is there something about the label ‘divisions’ that sets us up to operate separately? Perhaps that’s an exploration of language for another time.)
The BACP CYPF conference on 18 March 2023 will be hybrid too, making it more accessible to more people. I hope you’ll be able to participate, in one form or other.
In this issue, Fred Crossman examines the legacy of the pandemic for young people, and shares the ways that schools are responding – and helping them to recover – in The legacy of COVID-19: every little helps. How differently we perceived isolation, lockdown and personal space pre March 2020 than we do today. How long will it take us, and the young people we support, to truly recover? How can we offer the help that young people need, while also keeping check of our own emotional wellbeing? Ria Littlewood reminds us of the importance of Contracting with children, and shares creative and therapeutic ways to make it work. Returning contributor Mike Moss considers the therapeutic value of what’s left unsaid in a counselling session in Going inside: an internal conversation. There’s something poetic about Mike’s writing, as he shares an imagined dialogue between the counsellor’s thoughts and those of the client. Elsewhere, Judy Morris shares her passion for poetry and explains the scientific evidence for its social and emotional impact in Poetry: the superpower of words . Also in this issue, Amelia White asks What’s it like for girls? growing up in co-ed boarding schools, in the final instalment of our boarding school series. Have these articles resonated with you? If so, I’d love to hear how, and any suggestions you might have for future series.
The world feels doomy and gloomy just now, which is reflected in the work that we do ‘in the room’ and remotely, as well as in our news and social media feeds, our journals, newspapers and networking events. We need to find a balance between the harsh realities and the hopeful fantasies, between consistency and change, between the real world and the world we inhabit online, between the new and the familiar. May we emerge from the winter months, arriving in spring, and perhaps at our BACP CYPF Conference, balanced, well rested, happy and glorious. See you in March; maybe IRL.
Jeanine Connor, Editor
cypf.editorial@bacp.co.uk
