Group Therapy With Children

A practical guide to play therapy with children. This book covers aspects of treatment including the selection of appropriate patients, choice of toys, setting limits, and working with parents. The capabilities of group therapy to foster social interaction and psychological development are shown.

Many children and adolescents face developmental or situational difficulties in areas where they live most of their meaningful experiences—at home, at school, and in the community. While adults who struggle with life events and stressors may look to professional help, young individuals are quite alone in coping with these situations. Perhaps unsurprisingly, most children and adolescents typically do not seek such help, and often resist it when offered. Author Zipora Shechtman has written this detailed text advocating group counseling and psychotherapy as a viable means of addressing these issues if we are to ensure the psychological wellness of children in society. Group Counseling and Psychotherapy With Children and Adolescents is arranged in four parts. Its chapters explore topics including: *who needs group counseling and psychotherapy; *therapeutic factors in children's groups; *activities in the group; *pre-group planning and forming a group; and *how to enhance emotional experiencing and group support. This text is a principal source of information for counseling psychology students, researchers, and practitioners working with young people, in addition to social workers, teachers, and parents.

This handbook describes in detail different contemporary approaches to group work with children and adolescents. Further, this volume illustrates the application of these models to work with the youth of today, whether victims of trauma, adolescents struggling with LGBT issues, or youth with varying common diagnoses such as autism spectrum disorders, depression, and anxiety. It offers chapters presenting a variety of clinical approaches written by experts in these approaches, from classic (play therapy and dialectical behavior therapy) to cutting-edge (attachment-based intervention, mindfulness, and sensorimotor psychotherapy). Because of its broad scope, the book is suitable for a wide audience, from students to first-time group leaders to seasoned practitioners.

Peer groups have a great significance in children’s development. Since children express their problems through play and action, Alfons Aichinger and Walter Holl have developed the basic ideas and intervention possibilities of psychodrama for group therapy work with children in a process spanning over 35 years. Using vivid examples, they describe the appropriate composition of a group of children, the structure of a group therapy session, the group process, disorder-oriented and group process-oriented interventions and the demands placed on the leaders of these groups.

Group Play Therapy presents an updated look at an effective yet underutilized therapeutic intervention. More than just an approach to treating children, group play therapy is a life-span approach, undergirded by solid theory and, in this volume, taking wings through exciting techniques. Drawing on their experiences as clinicians and educators, the authors weave theory and technique together to create a valuable resource for both mental health practitioners and advanced students. Therapists and ultimately their clients will benefit from enhancing their understanding of group play therapy.

This Handbook offers a much-needed resource of theoretical knowledge, evidence-based interventions, and practical guidelines for professionals providing group psychotherapy to youth clients. Written by leading professionals in the field of child and adolescent cognitive-behavioral therapy, this comprehensive volume offers readers a collection of innovative and well established approaches for group interventions with youth in a variety of treatment settings. It addresses a wide range of issues, not limited to assessment, group member selection, and specific protocols and strategies that readers can implement in their own practice. Integrating theoretical and practical aspects, leading experts offer their experience through case examples and vignettes, suggesting guidelines for overcoming inherent treatment obstacles. This Handbook provides not only a framework for delivering effective group therapy, but also highlights specific problem areas, and it is an invaluable reference for professionals providing therapeutic intervention to children and adolescents.

This comprehensive manual offers specific how-to guidelines for conducting a wide range of psychotherapy groups and detailed session-by-session descriptions of sixteen structured group interventions. Time-limited, structured, educational, and goal-oriented, these groups focus on such core treatment issues as separation and divorce, alcoholism, bereavement, sexual abuse, fears and anxieties, anger management, weight loss, and encopresis.