Therapeutic Work With Sexually Abused Children

`This book is a practical and supportive guide for the professionals facing this traumatic subject. [It] is easily readable' - Journal of Child and Adolescent Mental Health `Therapeutic Work With Sexually Abused Children locates the practice experience of the authors within a rigorous theoretical framework and is a readable and useable guide to the complexities of helping children and adolescents who have suffered the trauma of sexual abuse' - Youth & Policy `It is refreshing to find child therapists ready to engage with sexually abused children by incorporating trauma theory and research, addressing child protection and seeing themselves as part of a team that includes the carers. The authors provide an overview of phases of treatment, theoretical considerations and essential skills. They emphasize the importance of relationship and explore its impact on the therapist. Their approach is creative and child-centered. Case vignettes, poems and exercises promote empathy with the child's perspective. There is a useful chapter on cultural issues and the needs of children in alternative care... this is an excellent primer for the child's helping network' - Community Care `This is an excellent book for workers seeking to respond more effectively to child victims of abuse' - David Pearson, Caring Magazine Therapeutic Work with Sexually Abused Children is a creative and practical guide for professionals working directly with those who have suffered sexual abuse and for their carers. The trauma of sexual abuse experienced in childhood can be severe and enduring. Therapeutic support is offered to help both the child and the family cope with psychological or emotional difficulties both currently and in later life. Therapists must be able to respond effectively to the child victim in a sensitive and timely way which prioritizes the needs of each child. Drawing on their experience as practitioners, the authors explore the reactions which children commonly experience following abuse and examine the tasks of the therapist in responding to them. This book explores the counselling of children who have been abused rather than adult survivors of child abuse. The book will benefit from the combined experiences of one US author and one UK author.

Here is a disguised but tragically accurate account of a 7-year-old boy who was repeatedly victimized by two uncles who penetrated him, required him under threat of violence to act upon them, and forced him to have sexual contact with his sister for their entertainment. Before his ongoing abuse was discovered, the child made several serious suicide attempts. Verbatim accounts of the child's therapy are used to illustrate a new treatment approach for abused children, Synergistic Play Therapy, which follows the work of Haim Ginott and Heinz Werner. Much that is written about play therapy focuses on theoretical notions or intuitive, impressionistic judgment. Seldom does a work make clear the rationale by which play strategies and techniques are derived from underlying constructs. This book links theoretical reasoning with the specific dos and don'ts of clinical practice. The purpose, rationale, and impact for interventions are woven into session transcripts and related to the concepts upon which Synergistic Play Therapy is based. Topics covered include rapport building and the beginning of restoration of the child's trust in an adult male, therapeutic contact negotiation, the introduction of metaphor, indirect referencing of the trauma and the process building toward explicit emotional disclosure and metaphoric retribution, the restoration of self-esteem, 'emotional inoculation' against regression, and the emergence of a future-oriented perspective characterized by confidence and hopefulness. Therapists need a clearly defined and well-documented set of guidelines for the treatment of sexually abused children. Abused children become adult perpetrators in numbers disproportionate to the rest of the population, but this dire statistic holds true only for those victims who have not been effectively helped as children. This book offers a means to provide such treatment.

This text presents the many challenges for the therapists working with children and adolescents who have suffered abuse. It covers the reluctance of victims to talk about the abuse, helping victims to work through resistance, and more.

This easy-to-follow manual presents techniques for working with groups of children who have been sexually abused. It begins with an overview of the theory and literature of group therapy with children and then offers seven sections on psycho-social skill building techniques, trust building, self esteem, identifying and expressing feelings, healing the inner child, relationships, boundary setting, and prevention skills.

`This book is a practical and supportive guide for the professionals facing this traumatic subject. [It] is easily readable' - Journal of Child and Adolescent Mental Health `Therapeutic Work With Sexually Abused Children locates the practice experience of the authors within a rigorous theoretical framework and is a readable and useable guide to the complexities of helping children and adolescents who have suffered the trauma of sexual abuse' - Youth & Policy `It is refreshing to find child therapists ready to engage with sexually abused children by incorporating trauma theory and research, addressing child protection and seeing themselves as part of a team that includes the carers. The authors provide an overview of phases of treatment, theoretical considerations and essential skills. They emphasize the importance of relationship and explore its impact on the therapist. Their approach is creative and child-centered. Case vignettes, poems and exercises promote empathy with the child's perspective. There is a useful chapter on cultural issues and the needs of children in alternative care... this is an excellent primer for the child's helping network' - Community Care `This is an excellent book for workers seeking to respond more effectively to child victims of abuse' - David Pearson, Caring Magazine Therapeutic Work with Sexually Abused Children is a creative and practical guide for professionals working directly with those who have suffered sexual abuse and for their carers. The trauma of sexual abuse experienced in childhood can be severe and enduring. Therapeutic support is offered to help both the child and the family cope with psychological or emotional difficulties both currently and in later life. Therapists must be able to respond effectively to the child victim in a sensitive and timely way which prioritizes the needs of each child. Drawing on their experience as practitioners, the authors explore the reactions which children commonly experience following abuse and examine the tasks of the therapist in responding to them. This book explores the counselling of children who have been abused rather than adult survivors of child abuse. The book will benefit from the combined experiences of one US author and one UK author.

Child sex abuse is a minefield of complexity and confusion for all involved. A genuinely multidisciplinary problem, it requires the close co-operation of a wide range of people with different tasks, from the clinical treatment specialists through to the police and legal system. Tilman Furniss, a leading figure in the field of child sexual abuse, has written a unique, practical handbook designed for all professionals involved in the treatment and care of sexually abused children and their families. Based on fifteen years' innovative work, this book will help professionals develop knowledge and skills to deal with their particular task, and at the same time help them to understand the effects of their actions on the work of other professionals.

The treatment of sexually abused children between the ages of 7 and 12 present a unique clinical challenge. These victims are in the developmental phase of latency where post-traumatic discomfort and internal conflict are often manifested in self-destructive, sexually inappropriate, and aggressive behavior toward adults and peers. Often unresponsive to interventions that require direct verbal communication, these children need special therapeutic approaches to master feelings of shame, helplessness, responsibility, anger, and sadness, which are concomitant with sexual abuse and disclosure. Group treatment has been shown to be an important component of healing for these children. This volume is the first book on the treatment of sexual abuse that is devoted exclusively to a group treatment approach. GROUP TREATMENT FOR SEXUALLY ABUSED CHILDREN considers the impact of sexual molestation and disclosure on latency-aged children and provides a step-by-step guide to a comprehensive program for victims and their non-offending caretakers. Establishing a therapeutic framework that enables both children and adults to deal with anxiety producing material, themes addressed in a sequence of progressive difficulty. More than a description of a program, this manual offers actual interventions to be used with children and their non-offending caretakers, including guidelines for anticipating and responding therapeutically to expected resistances. The structured curriculum, which consists of ten modules, presents a variety of activities that assist children and adults to begin to identify and express their conflicts and feelings. Each module delineates the Purpose, Objectives, Therapeutic Considerations, Activities and Treatment Challenges for children and their caretakers. Each activity for children incorporates group topics for the caretakers' group which parallel the material presented in the children's group. This approach integrates the treatment, increasing the likelihood of a successful experience for the children. Illustrative case examples are offered to demonstrate how children and adults respond to the activities. Unique features of this program include its attention to the important developmental tasks for children as well as the sequelae of sexual molestation; its respect for the ways in which boys and girls respond differently to sexual trauma; and its inclusion of over 40 original handouts for children and caretakers which may be photocopied for use in your practice. An ideal resource, the structure and variety of original materials in this outstanding volume provide direction and focus for all therapists who are dedicated to the recovery of sexually abused children and their families. Further, many of the handouts are useful for individual and family treatment and, with some modifications, can also be used in work with adolescents. As an added convenience, all the forms in this manual may be photocopied for use in your practice

Praise for the Second Edition: `This is a user-friendly, readable, practical guide to assist survivors of childhood sexual abuse that will be particularly useful to students and practitioners who are new to this field′ - Journal of Child and Adolescent Mental Health `This is a book that should give those who find themselves working with sexual abuse survivors some tools and skills for the job′ - Young Minds Magazine `This book will be found valuable by all therapists and counsellors, not just those who have a special interest in childhood sexual abuse. Many will want to follow up the well-selected references the author gives. The detailed index will also help one to browse and read selectively′ - Sexual and Relationship Therapy The experience of childhood sexual abuse is a trauma which continues to have an impact on survivors thoughout their lives. The pervasive and long-term effects that stem from sexual abuse make it vital that counsellors become adept at addressing the unique and complex needs of survivors. In this Third Edition of Counselling Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse, Claire Burke Draucker and Donna S Martsolf identify the significant healing processes which are essential to achieve recovery. These include: " disclosing the abuse " reinterpreting it from an adult perspective " addressing issues related to the context of the abuse; and " making desired life changes. Each of these processes is discussed in conjunction with the most effective counselling interventions to facilitate resolution. Carefully chosen case examples demonstrate the appropriate use of interventions in practice. The Third Edition includes a wealth of new material covering memory retrieval, outcome research, multicultural counselling, emerging therapeutic approaches, and neuroscience and counseling. Dynamics and difficulties in the therapeutic relationship are also discussed in great depth.