Published Papers
I discovered late in life that I enjoyed writing. Three of my essays have been published.
2014 – ‘Birds, Beasts and Babies – Notes from an infant observation’
My paper won the Roszika Parker prize in 2013 and was published in the British Journal of Psychotherapy in October 2014. This prize focuses on a critical engagement with questions of creativity.
The judges comment:
'The title of this paper might suggest that this was going to be a straightforward account of an infant observation. In fact it is a most moving meditation on a two year relationship with the infant Max and his mother and family. Trying to describe what the author has done with her observation is to trample upon the author's poetic imagination, such as her description of the three birds that make their appearance at different times in the narrative. But what seems certain is that the author has handled most thoughtfully and sensitively the way she has imagined Max's inner world developing.'
2021 – ‘'The Winnowing Way - Infant Observation with Soul in Mind'
This paper was published in Harvest the journal of the C.G. Jung Club London, in 2021.
The editor writes:
'Sally McLaren’s experience of Jungian infant observation awakens the archetypes of the divine child, mother, rebirth, and life after death. We hear echoes of Jung’s statement that when we see a child, we may feel that we have unfinished business. Her reflections on the infant bring her into dialogue with her grandmother’s writings and the birth and death artwork of Bill Viola. Earliest memories and earliest remembered dreams carry numinous power that brims with fatefulness. Recovering the innocence of babies as we age and becoming as little children as we die promise to open the gates to the world of the ancestors and their unanswered questions.'
2025 - 'English Landscape: an archetypal perspective on the ex-boarder'
I have contributed a chapter to a new book 'The Un-Making of Them: Clinical Reflections on Boarding School Syndrome', edited by Nick Duffell and published by Routledge in April 2025.
The editor introduces my chapter as:
‘…a fascinatingly detailed case study of Jungian psychoanalysis with one ex-boarder patient……. Not an ex-boarder herself, McLaren allows her patient to get under her skin; over time, she creatively allows the deep-seated issues to emerge and reveal themselves. The therapy appears haunted by the shadowy presence of a fox. This wily, secretive survivor is featured in many English myths and legends, rooted in landscape; here he becomes a totem animal for the ex-boarder ‘strategic survival personality’. After much hunting for her patient’s fox, McLaren finds her way, inspired by Donald Kalsched: ‘In trauma work ... we must learn to speak a soulful language, because it is uniquely the human soul that is threatened with annihilation by early trauma in a child’s life.’
My paper is largely a demonstration of my 'analytic attitude' and of the crucial role this plays in bringing to light the deeply hidden issues as they begin to emerge within the analytic relationship. I make particular reference to the work of Jungian analysts Gus Cwik and Donald Kalsched. ‘
References
McLaren, S. (2014) Birds, Beasts and Babies - Notes from an Infant Observation. British Journal of Psychotherapy, 30 (4): 462-474.
McLaren, S. (2021) The Winnowing Way - Infant Observation with Soul in Mind. Harvest, C.G. Jung Club London, pp. 89 - 107.
McLaren, S. (2025) English Landscape - An archetypal perspective on the ex-boarder. In: Duffell, N. (ed.) The Un-Making of Them - Clinical Reflections on Boarding School Syndrome, pp.91 - 103. Abingdon: Routledge.