Psychological Treatment Approaches For Young Children And Their Families

"Never disappoints. A concise authoritative guide, this book is a treasure-trove and delight to read. It provides the reader with an overview of the contemporary early intervention landscape with sufficient detail to allow readers to feel familiar with the key aspects of each approach, without overwhelming them with too much new information.” — Alan Carr, PhD, FPSsI, FBPsS, Professor of Clinical Psychology, UCD, and Family Therapist, Clanwilliam Institute, Ireland. Early childhood is the most critical phase in human development. Negative influences can contribute to irreversible life-long struggles. What is learned in the first five years of life becomes the foundation for subsequent learning. It is vitally important that we effectively treat mental health problems when we find them in preschoolers. Psychological Treatment Approaches for Children and Their Families provides a comprehensive overview of 14 commonly available therapeutic interventions for children aged 3–5 years. It fills an important gap in a field where information about treatment options is limited compared with those suitable for older children and adolescents. The interventions presented are evidence-based and reflect various research backgrounds and theories of change. They are grouped into four sections covering individual child treatments, parent-focused approaches, dyadic carer-child interventions, and family-systems models. Each section describes the models in a condensed yet comprehensive summary, offering information on its evidence base, key concepts, stages of therapy, session structure, treatment effects, and training options, along with a case study example illustrating the therapy in practice. The structure allows the reader to decide what treatments can be used for what presenting problem and under what conditions. A set of exercise questions concludes the end of each chapter to encourage better theory-practice links. The result is a text that provides ample opportunities for students and therapists to develop a knowledge base and understanding of how to best approach the treatment of psychological disorders in this age group. Edited and authored by a select group of experienced clinical psychologists and psychiatrists with a particular interest in paediatric clinical psychology, this text is relevant for students, therapists, trainers and supervisors, referrers, researchers, and funding bodies, as well as all those undergoing training in disciplines related to child development and clinical child psychology.

Decades of research have demonstrated that the parent-child dyad and the environment of the familyâ€"which includes all primary caregiversâ€"are at the foundation of children's well- being and healthy development. From birth, children are learning and rely on parents and the other caregivers in their lives to protect and care for them. The impact of parents may never be greater than during the earliest years of life, when a child's brain is rapidly developing and when nearly all of her or his experiences are created and shaped by parents and the family environment. Parents help children build and refine their knowledge and skills, charting a trajectory for their health and well-being during childhood and beyond. The experience of parenting also impacts parents themselves. For instance, parenting can enrich and give focus to parents' lives; generate stress or calm; and create any number of emotions, including feelings of happiness, sadness, fulfillment, and anger. Parenting of young children today takes place in the context of significant ongoing developments. These include: a rapidly growing body of science on early childhood, increases in funding for programs and services for families, changing demographics of the U.S. population, and greater diversity of family structure. Additionally, parenting is increasingly being shaped by technology and increased access to information about parenting. Parenting Matters identifies parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with positive developmental outcomes in children ages 0-8; universal/preventive and targeted strategies used in a variety of settings that have been effective with parents of young children and that support the identified knowledge, attitudes, and practices; and barriers to and facilitators for parents' use of practices that lead to healthy child outcomes as well as their participation in effective programs and services. This report makes recommendations directed at an array of stakeholders, for promoting the wide-scale adoption of effective programs and services for parents and on areas that warrant further research to inform policy and practice. It is meant to serve as a roadmap for the future of parenting policy, research, and practice in the United States.

A uniquely comprehensive and practical account, illustrated throughout by detailed case vignettes. The international team of contributors convey expert insight into the value and implementation of cognitive behavioural approaches to psychological problems in children, adolescents and their families.

This volume provides an overview of the research describing the effects of child maltreatment on mental health, cognitive and social-emotional development. It offers descriptions of selected empirically based treatments (EBTs) written by scholars associated with its development, training, or research on its effectiveness. Each contributor presents the theoretical foundation of the EBT and evidence of its efficacy, describes the treatment process and illustrates this process with a case study of its use with a maltreated child, and discusses possible limitations. Following the chapters describing the interventions, the editors address key issues of the dissemination and implementation of these EBTs. They describe the strategies the selected interventions have used to ensure treatment fidelity in training and dissemination from the perspective of implementation science’s core components of implementation. The challenges of implementing EBTs, and the difficulty of fitting protocol to the reality of clinical practice in community mental health settings are also discussed. This volume offers a central source of information for students and practitioners who are seeking effective interventions to address problems associated with child maltreatment.

This manual is the highly recommended companion to CPRT: A 10-Session Filial Therapy Model. Accompanied by a CD-Rom of training materials, which allows for ease of reproduction and enhanced usability, the workbook will help the facilitator of the filial training and will provide a much needed educational outline to allow filial therapists to pass their knowledge on to parents. The Treatment Manual provides a comprehensive outline and detailed guidelines for each of the ten sessions, facilitating the training process for both the parents and the therapist. The book contains a designed structure for the therapy training described in the book, with child-centered play therapy principles and skills, such as reflective listening, recognizing and responding to children’s feelings, therapeutic limit setting, building children’s self-esteem, and structuring required weekly play sessions with their children using a special kit of selected toys. Bratton and her co-authors recommend teaching aids, course materials, and activities for each session, as well as worksheets for parents to complete between sessions. By using this workbook and CD-Rom to accompany the CPRT book, filial therapy leaders will have a complete package for use in training parents to act as therapeutic agents with their own children. They provide the therapist with a complete package for training parents to act as therapeutic agents with their own children.

What is 'mentalization'? How can this concept be applied to clinical work with children, young people and families? What will help therapists working with children and families to 'keep the mind in mind'? Why does it matter if a parent can 'see themselves from the outside, and their child from the inside'? Minding the Child considers the implications of the concept of mentalization for a range of therapeutic interventions with children and families. Mentalization, and the empirical research which has supported it, now plays a significant role in a range of psychotherapies for adults. In this book we see how these rich ideas about the development of the self and interpersonal relatedness can help to foster the emotional well-being of children and young people in clinical practice and a range of other settings. With contributions from a range of international experts, the three main sections of the book explore: • the concept of mentalization from a theoretical and research perspective • the value of mentalization-based interventions within child mental health services • the application of mentalizing ideas to work in community settings. Minding the Child will be of particular interest to clinicians and those working therapeutically with children and families, but it will also be of interest to academics and students interested in child and adolescent mental health, developmental psychology and the study of social cognition.

Christiane Brems, in collaboration with new coauthor Christina Rasmussen, introduces prospective and practicing clinicians to theories and principles of applied clinical work with children ages three to twelve years. The authors take an integrated approach to understanding children and their families, using a biopsychosociocultural model for conceptualization and treatment planning. Their methods are practical and compassionate, as well as contextually grounded and individually tailored. Chapters follow the logical development of clinicians, mirroring the natural flow of work with children. Coverage ranges from the importance of a beginning practitioner’s introspection and of ethical and legal issues to a variety of intervention techniques and strategies and, finally, termination. Case studies showcase individualized and mindful treatment for each child with whom a clinician works. Outstanding Features of the Fourth Edition . . . · Essential attention to how clinicians’ self-awareness can lead to positive therapeutic relationships with children and their families. · Thorough discussions of the biopsychosociocultural model for conceptualization and treatment planning. · Emphasis on intensive assessment prior to treatment planning to address the needs of each child and family. · A compelling, practical exploration of mindfulness intervention with children. The authors’ methodology addresses the profound effects of the larger environment and culture on children. By adopting the authors’ integrated approach, clinicians are better able to understand important and complicated aspects of a child’s and family’s life. From there, compassionate, thoughtful, and relevant intervention ensues.