ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the significance of Hamish Canham’s work for social work and centred this on the Editorial we jointly wrote for a special issue of the International Journal of Infant Observation on the application to social work. It describes a transitional moment as social work theory and practice began to turn once more to psychoanalytic theory to assist the task of working with the emotional and relational aspects of practice. It is also evident that Canham’s work includes some of the retrospect from which, drawing on his own experiences, he was able to identify factors in theory and practice that could be useful to social work practitioners and be applied to their work in meaningful way. The theoretical approach is rooted in the application of Wilfred Bion’s concept of containment to understand raw emotional experiences and intense anxieties and alongside this, in the role of countertransference in helping workers identify their emotional experiences when working with children and young people.
