A blog by Dr Nicola Canale, Specialist Educational Psychologist, South
‘Kintsugi’ is the Japanese custom of repairing broken or cracked items with gold. Once completed, beautiful seams of gold glint in the item, giving a unique appearance to each “repaired” piece. This method celebrates each items unique history, and emphasises its fractures and breaks, instead of hiding or disguising them. This makes the repaired piece even more beautiful and interesting than the original. It may also make the item stronger, and more resilient to withstanding future knocks and bumps.
It strikes me that there is a similarity between the art of Kintsugi and a concept in the field of developmental psychology known as ‘rupture and repair’.
What is Rupture and Repair?
Dr. Allan Schore has written a lot on this topic. He explains how it is nearly impossible to be completely in tune (or attuned) with our child at all times. Many ‘ruptures’ will occur during our interaction with our child and, provided we are able to notice and ‘repair’ these ruptures, that this process helps increases our child’s ability to tolerate and manage negative emotions as they develop and grow.
Trying our best to stay calm, close and connected to our child during these tricky parenting moments actually helps our child develop resilience and acts as a buffer against those more difficult childhood experiences that they may encounter e.g., the loss of a loved one, a frightening event or even a global pandemic.
So back to Kintsugi. If we think about the cracks in items as the ‘ruptures‘ that occur during the interactions we have with our child, then the ‘repairs‘ we make are the golden threads that we weave into our child’s life to help them withstand the knocks and bumps that they will encounter across the lifespan.
Surely this is one of the most precious gifts we could bestow on our child, and one that will be passed down from generation to generation.
For further information about these ideas please see links below:
Dr Allan Schore talks about the role that ‘repairing the rupture’ has on developing resilience in young children https://youtu.be/cbfuBex-3jE?t=1
Dr Dan Siegel explains how important a secure attachment is when it comes to repairing the rupture in relationships https://youtu.be/_XjXv6zseA0?t=2
This video by the Science of Child Development talks about different types of stress that can help and hinder development https://youtu.be/rVwFkcOZHJw
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POSTPONED – AiMH UK AGM and Awards Presentation including an interview with Dilys Daws
POSTPONED - Friday 27th January 2023 11.30am - 1.00pm. A new date will be announced shortly. We are delighted to annouce that our founder and honorary trustee, Dilys Daws will be joining us at our Annual AGM and Awards to discuss her new book: 'Quietly Subversive: The Selected works of Dilys Daws'
Launch of the AiMH UK Awards and Bursaries 2022
This year the Awards and Bursaries will be presented at the AiMH UK AGM on Friday January 27th 2023. To read more click on the photo
The International Journal of Birth and Parent Education – Volume 10
The latest edition of the International Journal of Birth and Parent Education is now available to members to download from the members area.
AiMH UK and Home-Start UK Membership Partnership
We are delighted to announce that the AiMH UK and Home-Start membership partnership was launched in October 2022.
The Anna Freud Centre releases its latest study results on psychotherapy interventions
and how they can prevent and reduce mental health difficulties in parents and caregivers and their babies and young children. Read the full report.
Honorary Trustee, Penny Leach awarded the CBE
In the Queens Honours List
Getting it right for our infants.
Babies’ emotional health and wellbeing begin before they are born, especially in the last trimester of pregnancy.
IMH Discussion on Birmingham Radio
On Tuesday 8th December, Rachel Pardoe (child psychotherapist and AiMH Bristol Hub lead) was invited to be a guest speaker on Birmingham’s Unity Radio ‘parenting hour’ programme.
The WAIMH Award for our President Jane Barlow, Congratulations!
Professor Jane Barlow received an Award in recognition of all her hard work and dedication to Infant Mental Health.
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