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BJSW Advance Access originally published online on November 18, 2005
British Journal of Social Work 2007 37(1):23-37; doi:10.1093/bjsw/bch393
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© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved.

Potential Space: Knowing and Not Knowing in the Treatment of Traumatized Children and Young People

Yael Lesser

Dr. Yael Lesser, a psychiatric social worker, was a member of staff in the Child and Youth Psychiatric Unit at Sheba Medical Centre, Israel (1979–2001). She is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist in private practice, teaching and supervising graduate social workers in their clinical studies, in the School of Social Work, Bar Ilan University.

Correspondence to Yael Lesser, School of Social Work, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan 52900, Israel. E-mail: lessery{at}mail.biu.ac.il

This paper illustrates some contributions of psychoanalytically based thinking in social work practice with children and youth removed from their homes due to severe maltreatment or incapacity of parents. It is suggested that when working with severely deprived and traumatized children, the therapist should hold in mind the lacking of rapport with primary caretakers, and the need of the child to form meaningful and intimate relations in his or her future life. Psychoanalytically based thinking enriches the treatment process by offering new ways for understanding of the patient’s needs, aiming to reach the child’s subjective experience and re-establishing his sense of self and a meaningful rapport with an other. The concept of ‘potential space’ and the area of experience (Winnicott, 1953/1975) will be described with elaboration on its variety and use in theory and practice, focusing on two major themes: the dialectics of knowing and not knowing, and the search for selected material. A clinical illustration is presented to show these dynamics as they appear in the clinical process and the therapeutic session. The material was selected from supervision of graduate social work students involved in therapeutic work with children.

Keywords: potential space, traumatized child, knowing, subjective experience


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