Developmental Play Therapy In Clinical Social Work

Covers all aspects of play therapy with children in mental health clinics, schools, health settings, private practice offices, and child and family service agencies. This book draws on classic and current materials in developing a theoretically-framed, dynamic assessment and intervention model of clinical social work with children and their parents. It integrates concepts and practice principles with real-life case vignettes in individualized application to multiple problems in multiple practice settings. This stage-framed model presents in-depth use of play media, symbolic metaphor, therapeutic alliance, and developmental growth processes in assessing and treating children's developmental, emotional, and behavioral problems, conducting concurrent parent work, and evaluating practice outcome. Separate chapters focus on attachment problems, learning and attention problems, anxiety disorders, and trauma related to violence. For social workers working with children.

This book has been replaced by Social Work Practice with Children, Fourth Edition, ISBN 978-1-4625-3755-6.

A complete, comprehensive play therapy resource for mentalhealth professionals Handbook of Play Therapy is the one-stop resource forplay therapists with coverage of all major aspects written byexperts in the field. This edition consolidates the coverage ofboth previous volumes into one book, updated to reflect the newestfindings and practices of the field. Useful for new and experienced practitioners alike, this guideprovides a comprehensive introduction and overview of play therapyincluding, theory and technique, special populations,nontraditional settings, professional and contemporary issues.Edited by the founders of the field, each chapter is written bywell-known and respected academics and practitioners in each topicarea and includes research, assessment, strategies, and clinicalapplication. This guide covers all areas required for credentialingfrom the Association for Play Therapy, making it uniquely qualifiedas the one resource for certification preparation. Learn the core theories and techniques of play therapy Apply play therapy to special populations and in nontraditionalsettings Understand the history and emerging issues in the field Explore the research and evidence base, clinical applications,and more Psychologists, counselors, marriage and family therapists,social workers, and psychiatric nurses regularly utilize playtherapy techniques to facilitate more productive sessions andpromote better outcomes for patients. Handbook of PlayTherapy provides the deep, practical understanding needed toincorporate these techniques into practice.

Touch in Child Counseling and Play Therapy explores the professional and legal boundaries around physical contact in therapy and offers best-practice guidelines from a variety of perspectives. Chapters address issues around appropriate and sensitive therapist-initiated touch, therapeutic approaches that use touch as an intervention in child treatment, and both positive and challenging forms of touch that are initiated by children. In these pages, professionals and students alike will find valuable information on ways to address potential ethical dilemmas, including defining boundaries, working with parents and guardians, documentation, consent forms, cultural considerations, countertransference, and much more.

Going beyond traditional play therapy, this innovative book presents a range of evidence-based assessment and intervention approaches that incorporate play as a key element. It is grounded in the latest knowledge about the importance of play in child development. Leading experts describe effective strategies for addressing a wide variety of clinical concerns, including behavioral difficulties, anxiety, parent–child relationship issues, trauma, and autism. The empirical support for each approach is summarized and clinical techniques are illustrated. The book also discusses school-based prevention programs that utilize play to support children's learning and social-emotional functioning.

Play Therapy Today brings together the work of renowned practitioners and academics currently working and researching in therapeutic play and play therapy, and presents a range of ground-breaking methods for practising with groups, individuals, and parents and carers. Providing an overview of new or revitalised topics in play therapy, each chapter presents the relevant theoretical underpinnings and principles of practice, a guide to implementing the method and case study vignettes of the approach in practice. The three sections include chapters on: the Therapeutic Touchstone model and the development of the therapeutic relationship, an overview of the use of individual play therapy techniques with children in a hospital setting, and an overview of Yasenik and Gardner’s Play Therapy Dimensions Model with an in-depth exploration of the dimension of consciousness from both a theoretical and practical, play-based orientation. Jennings’ Embodiment-Project-Role model and its implementation in group work, the practical use of puppets in educational and therapeutic settings, the therapeutic value of working with groups in the outdoors, and the use of play in groups for children with a variety of sensory, intellectual and physical disabilities. Stagnitti’s adaptation of the ‘Learn to Play’ programme for parent/carer use, Group Theraplay with peer groups and parent/child dyads and how a neurosequential approach supports case conceptualization and play therapy practice with families. The book provides practitioners with up-to-date, effective and practical techniques that they can put into immediate use in their clinical work with children and their families. It is an important resource for trainee, newly qualified and seasoned play therapists, play therapy supervisors and trainers. It will also be of interest to social workers, teachers, psychologists, child psychotherapists and other health professionals.

The use of techniques and interventions for play therapy during the supervision process for graduate and post-graduate counselors provides a host of benefits for the counseling student, post-graduate intern, and supervisor. The counselor in training is able to experientially integrate theory with practice through the use of different modalities that provide reflection and insight into their work with clients. Additionally, the use of techniques and interventions for play therapy allows a secure and strong supervisory relationship, which allows the counselor in training to explore personal and professional goals; verbalize and conceptualize client issues, goals, and effective interventions; and develop counselor-client relationships that allow the client to progress during the therapeutic process. However, play therapy techniques and interventions are not often incorporated into the supervision process unless the clinician is a registered play therapist being supervised by a registered play therapist supervisor. Techniques and Interventions for Play Therapy and Clinical Supervision is a critical reference source that provides an opportunity for all clinicians to incorporate play therapy techniques and expressive art interventions into the process of supervision. It presents techniques and methods that allow for more effective supervision for counselors in training, which allows for more effective service delivery to clients. Highlighting topics that include play techniques in supervision, cognitive behavioral play therapy, and trauma, this book is ideal for individuals in a university, clinical, school, agency, etc. setting who provide supervision for counselors in training, including graduate students and postgraduate students. The book is an excellent supplement for clinical courses at universities with counseling programs and play therapy programs, as well as universities with graduate social work and psychology programs that have play therapy courses and provide play therapy supervision.

Child psychotherapy is in a state of transition. On the one hand, pretend play is a major tool of therapists who work with children. On the other, a mounting chorus of critics claims that play therapy lacks demonstrated treatment efficacy. These complaints are not invalid. Clinical research has only begun. Extensive studies by developmental researchers have, however, strongly supported the importance of play for children. Much knowledge is being accumulated about the ways in which play is involved in the development of cognitive, affective, and personality processes that are crucial for adaptive functioning. However, there has been a yawning gap between research findings and useful suggestions for practitioners. Play in Child Development and Psychotherapy represents the first effort to bridge the gap and place play therapy on a firmer empirical foundation. Sandra Russ applies sophisticated contemporary understanding of the role of play in child development to the work of mental health professionals who are trying to design intervention and prevention programs that can be empirically evaluated. Never losing sight of the complex problems that face child therapists, she integrates clinical and developmental research and theory into a comprehensive, up-to-date review of current approaches to conceptualizing play and to doing both therapeutic play work with children and the assessment that necessarily precedes and accompanies it.