Transformative Moments in an Online China Child Therapy Teaching Journey

Abstract

ABSTRACT Over the past 25 years, the International Psychotherapy Institute (IPI) faculty has been honing its technique for distance learning by listening for unconscious themes emerging in the classroom that resonate with learning resistances or teaching concepts. This coauthored paper describes an online, child and adolescent psychoanalytic psychotherapy training program coordinated by IPI and Jiandanxinli, offered by Western faculty to Chinese psychotherapists-in-training. An IPI child analytic faculty member collaborated with two Chinese course participants to study the cross-cultural meanings of teaching, presenting, and consulting. This independent research project unearthed new understandings about the challenges, strengths, and limitations of online, translation-dependent learning. Additionally, the article underscores the importance of embracing an ethical stance and cultural humility when teaching child therapy to students from different cultures.