“How hard can you kick a baby before it dies?”: psychotherapy in an institution for disturbed children

This chapter looks at the work of a child psychotherapist in an institution for disturbed children who were unable to be managed in other special provision. It follows several days in the life of the unit—through the individual and group sessions, a mothers’ group, staff meetings—and thereby focuses on the way that the nightmare lives of three boys percolate through the structures and boundaries of the unit.