How to manage feelings and emotions in a pandemic? the importance of affective containment

In this short reflective piece, we first outline how feelings and emotions (or ‘affections’) are understood in psychodynamic approaches, and briefly discuss how these may be controlled or ‘contained’ in organisational contexts. We then reflect on the recent experiences of one of us (Rachael) as a school leader seeking to contain feelings and emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic.