Puppet Assisted Play Therapy

Puppet-Assisted Play Therapy is an innovative and comprehensive approach that significantly advances the field of play therapy. This easy to read, user-friendly book includes history, creative interventions, case studies, the art of puppetry, and the worldwide benefits of puppet-assisted play therapy. It includes instructions for making customized puppets for a therapist’s practice and original research on the relationship of puppet therapy on children’s creativity. By describing all the various facets of puppet-assisted play therapy, this engaging text explores how using puppets produces a powerful connection and trust needed for the therapeutic process. Puppet-Assisted Play Therapy is a valuable addition to the library of any therapist, social worker, counsellor, teacher, or other professional interested in play and puppets with children.

Puppet Play Therapy is a comprehensive guidebook that describes the basic skills, techniques, and applications for selecting and working with puppets in specific types of settings and populations. Written by preeminent voices in the field, chapters offer invaluable guidance on selecting, using, and assessing puppet-based therapeutic interventions. Both beginning and experienced clinicians will also appreciate the inclusion of practical, step-by-step approaches and reproducible handouts that will aid them in their puppet play therapy sessions.

In Puppetry in Education and Therapy: Unlocking Doors to the Mind and Heart, one finds enormous variety, ingenuity, and creativity in the types of puppets, and the ways they are used in education and in therapy. Puppeteers, therapists, and educators, articulate what is meant by “puppetry in education” and “puppet therapy” and how it is the same or different from “puppet theatre”. They describe the unique characteristics and theory of puppetry in education and therapy, the skills it takes to be successful in these areas, the skills that are passed on to people who use puppets for personal expression, and how to assess the impact of puppets on learning or behavior change. Twenty-six authors discuss topics such as puppetry and the multiple intelligences; the process versus the product; using puppetry in schools to promote literacy, preserve cultural heritage, and teach music; how puppetry contributes to Core Curriculum Standards, the theoretical underpinnings of therapeutic puppetry, and a range of ways of facilitating growth and development. If you’re already using puppets, this book will inspire you to understand your work differently and to explore new possibilities. If you’re a teacher or a therapist and you’ve never used puppets before, it will open a whole world of possibilities. This book illustrates that puppetry arts can affect learning and behavior and that puppets indeed have the power to unlock doors to the mind and heart.

Growing research has shown that children with autism can learn and improve play and social skills through the use of puppetry. This is a resource guide in helping parents, teachers, and therapists integrate puppets into their child (ren)'s life through many how tos and guided puppet scripts

Lani Gerity shows in this book that puppet-making, incorporating both art and narrative, provides an ideal vehicle for therapeutic work. It is particularly valuable in the treatment of dissociative patients, whose symptoms may include disturbances in body image, a dissociated sense of self, a disrupted sense of history and causality, and a feeling of alienation from the self. Lani Gerity explores the application of this in the context of object relations theory. She shows the creative process working on many levels for dissociative individuals and groups. Making puppets, three-dimensional representations of the human body, helped one patient to integrate her sense of her body image and herself. Using puppets and creating narratives about them encourages patients to build communities and to release themselves from the hold of the trauma of their pasts. Descriptions and analyses of Gerity's work with dissociative patients in the US and Canada is underpinned by a theoretical framework which encompasses theories from the arts therapies and from psychiatry.

Building on children's natural inclinations to pretend and reenact, play therapy is widely used in the treatment of psychological problems in childhood. 101 Favorite Play Therapy Techniques incorporates methods developed to elicit the best responses from children by therapists representing cognitive-behavioral, psychodynamic, and other orientations, and selected for their practicality, specificity, and originality. Arranged for easy reference, each bearing a succinct description and targeted application, the interventions illustrated—including Fantasy, Storytelling, Expressive Arts, Game Play, Puppet Play, Play Toys and Objects, and Group Play—have been used with success to address such common problems as low self-esteem and unresolved fear and anger, as well as more serious difficulties arising from loss, abuse, and sexual trauma. All the contributors share the enthusiasm and respect of editors Kaduson and Schaefer for the special value of play therapy in reaching and healing young patients. Together, they have created an eclectic, accessible, and comprehensive resource for students and professionals that will also support parents seeking to open new lines of communication with their children. A Jason Aronson Book

Handbook on Animal-Assisted Therapy: Foundations and Guidelines for Animal-Assisted Interventions, Fifth Edition highlights advances in the field, with seven new chapters and revisions to over 75% of the material. This book will help therapists discover the benefits of incorporating animal assisted therapy into their practice, how to design and implement animal assisted interventions, and the efficacy of animal assisted therapy with different disorders and patient populations. Coverage includes the use of AAT with children, families and the elderly, in counseling and psychotherapy settings, and for treating a variety of specific disorders. Contains seven new chapters in addition to 75% new or revised material Includes guidelines and best practices for using animals as therapeutic companions Addresses specific types of patients and environmental situations Includes AAI working with cats, dogs, birds, and horses Discusses why animals are used in therapy, as well as how

The third edition of Animal-Assisted Therapy in Counseling is the most comprehensive book available dedicated to training mental health practitioners in the performance of animal assisted therapy in counseling (AAT-C). New to this edition is discussion of the human-animal relational theory, a new theory dedicated to the practice of AAT-C. This edition also has added applications for supervision and includes the most recent research and practice. Consistent with previous editions, a variety of animal-assisted interventions are described with case examples provided in a variety of settings with different types of animals. This unique resource is an indispensable guide for any counselor or psychotherapist looking to develop and implement AAT techniques in practice.