About this recording
This two-hour on-demand recording offers a clear and engaging introduction to Peter Blake’s clinical thinking and to the craft of child psychotherapy. It can be purchased and watched on its own, and it also forms the introduction to the full 15-hour Child Psychotherapy Training Series: Foundations in Practice.
If you later decide to purchase the full training series, the £39 paid for this recording will be deducted automatically at checkout when you are logged into the same MINDinMIND account.
Why watch this recording
Across two hours Peter takes us on a grounded tour of the ideas and practical decisions that underpin his work. Drawing on more than fifty years in the consulting room, supervision and teaching, he shows how psychoanalytic concepts can be used in flexible and realistic ways to meet the demands of today’s practice.
His approach is both accessible and insightful, offering examples and observations that clinicians rarely hear described so directly. He speaks with warmth, clarity and the occasional humour that runs through all his teaching.
The full training series develops these ideas and techniques in much greater depth.
What you’ll take away
- How Peter uses his five-session assessment model
- What readiness for therapy looks like in real clinical encounters
- Why parent work sits at the centre of child psychotherapy
- How play becomes a space for discovery, not performance
- How to stay emotionally steady when material becomes chaotic or intense
- Ways of working that are rarely described in formal trainings
Continue with the full training series
This recording gives you the orientation; the full 15-hour series takes you further into the craft. Together they provide 17 hours of learning.
After purchasing this recording, you can continue with The Craft of Child Psychotherapy: Foundations in Practice and receive an automatic £39 deduction from the full-series price. Log into the same MINDinMIND account at checkout for the deduction to be applied.
Explore the full training series
Across this recording and the full training series, you receive:
- Thirteen recorded clinical conversations plus this two-hour introduction
- Institute for Child Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy approved CPD/CE
- In-depth teaching on assessment, parent work, readiness for therapy and therapeutic decision making
- Real examples from decades of clinical practice
- A grounded conversational format between Peter and Jane that keeps the teaching clear, practical and often unexpectedly humorous
About Peter Blake
Peter Blake trained at the Tavistock Clinic in London and is Director of the Institute of Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy in Sydney.
He is the author of Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy: Making the Conscious Unconscious, now in its third edition and widely used internationally. Dr Anne Alvarez has described it as an original and exciting contribution to the field.
Peter is known for making complex psychoanalytic ideas practical and clinically usable. He draws on the work of Klein, Winnicott and Bion while staying rooted in the realities of contemporary clinical practice. With over fifty years in the field, he is widely regarded as a master clinician.
Who this recording is for
- Child and adolescent psychotherapists
- Counsellors, psychologists and psychodynamic practitioners
- Social workers, educators and professionals working with children, adolescents and parents
- Clinicians seeking practical guidance on assessment, readiness and therapeutic decision making
Interviewer
Peter is in conversation with Jane O’Rourke.
Jane O’Rourke, founder of MINDinMIND and a former award-winning BBC journalist now practising as a Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist, draws upon her combined expertise to create rich and thoughtful conversations with leading mental health clinicians. Her interviews weave together the personal and professional threads of her guests’ journeys, capturing the experiences that have shaped their clinical work and thinking.
Details correct at time of recording – 20 November 2025
“I wish to thank you for an enriching and truly inspiring evening with Peter Blake. Having read and taught his writings for many years, hearing ‘the man himself’ provided me with a deeper understanding of his work. He is truly constantly playing! Everything may become a port of entry into play’s transitional space. This is an important insight for me”
– Yonit Shulman, Clinical Psychologist and Supervisor
“Thank you for providing incredible CPD and speakers that you do – it is so hard to find this as an experienced CYP practitioner… you really meet a need”
– Hedy-anne Freedman , Child, Adolescent & Young Adult Psychotherapist
Bibliography & Resources
Further reading
- Peter Blake, Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy: Making the Conscious Unconscious
- Anne Alvarez, The Thinking Heart
- Frances Tustin, Autism and Childhood Psychosis
- W. R. Bion, Attention and Interpretation
- D. W. Winnicott, Playing and Reality
- Stephen Porges, Work on Polyvagal Safety and Play
- Allan Schore, Regulation and Right Brain to Right Brain Communication