Crea­ting con­tai­ners for he­al­ing and growth

This pa­per fol­lows the con­ver­sa­tio­nal in­for­mal style of the ori­gi­nal oral pre­sen­ta­ti­on for the 9IATC/3rd GATE that I pre­sen­ted by vi­deo re­cor­ding. The pa­per fo­cu­ses on the ques­ti­on of how out­door he­alth­ca­re prac­ti­tio­ners can work ef­fec­tively when they are amidst a pan­de­mic of an­xie­ty that ari­ses from mul­ti­ple sources of mas­si­ve dis­rup­ti­on to our ever­y­day li­ves. First­ly, the sources of an­xie­ty are ex­ami­ned and then the sug­ges­ti­on that ‘con­tain­ment’ can be a fun­da­men­tal con­di­ti­on of ef­fec­ti­ve­ness. The spe­cia­li­sed term ‘con­tain­ment’ is de­con­s­truc­ted as the fa­ci­li­ta­ti­on of safe, se­cu­re, re­spon­si­ve, pur­po­seful, boun­ded, and con­nec­ted spaces. That is so­cial, emo­tio­nal and psy­cho­lo­gi­cal spaces ra­ther than just phy­si­cal spaces. A key com­po­nent for prac­ti­tio­ners of the con­tai­ning fa­ci­li­ta­ti­ve stance is de­scri­bed as the ca­pa­ci­ty to be pre­sent with self and others. The pa­per ends with musings about the re­le­van­ce of con­tain­ment in wi­der con­texts and the dan­gers of over-em­pha­sis on con­tain­ment.