My project studied persons in social practice by re-searching psychotherapy as a social practice. In a small number of family therapy cases, I looked into the links between the clients' perspectives and activities in their ordinary everyday lives and their sessions. This study throws new light on the way therapy works and on the dynamics of change as clients see it and act on it. It also contributes to a more complete and grounded understanding of client problems and therapy that may be used to develop current practice.

The Unit of Outpatient Child Psychiatry and the Project

The project took place in an outpatient child psychiatry unit at a hospital in Copenhagen. Other divisions in the hospital, general practitioners, school psychologists, consultant psychologists in kindergartens, and agencies in the social sector refer children, and often their families, to the unit. It is not a frontline unit but one that offers treatment in particular cases which the frontline units cannot handle. So, mostly other professionals have already worked on the problems that led to the referral. Headed by a psychiatrist, the staff also includes a chief psychologist, training positions for a psychiatrist and a psychologist, two social workers, a specially trained pedagogue, and secretaries. The project builds on my prior collaboration with the unit. While it is carried out, it is an extra activity that is given a particular place and integrated into the ongoing practice of the unit (Dreier 1996).