Working With Children To Heal Interpersonal Trauma

Featuring in-depth case presentations from master clinicians, this volume highlights the remarkable capacity of traumatized children to guide their own healing process. The book describes what posttraumatic play looks like and how it can foster resilience and coping. Demonstrated are applications of play, art, and other expressive therapies with children who have faced such overwhelming experiences as sexual abuse or chronic neglect. The contributors discuss ways to facilitate forms of expression that promote mastery and growth, as well as how to intervene when play becomes stuck in destructive patterns. They share effective strategies for engaging hard-to-reach children and building trusting therapeutic relationships. This book will be invaluable to mental health professionals working with children, including child psychologists, social workers, play and art therapists, counselors, family therapists, and psychiatrists. It will also˜serve as a supplemental text in clinically oriented graduate-level courses.

The third edition of this handbook addresses not only the concept of resilience in children who overcome adversity, but it also explores the development of children not considered at risk addressing recent challenges as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. The new edition reviews the scientific literature that supports findings that stress-hardiness and resilience in all children leads to happier and healthier lives as well as improved functionality across the lifespan. In this edition, expert contributors examine resilience in relation to environmental stressors as phenomena in child and adolescent disorders and as a means toward positive adaptation into adulthood. The significantly expanded third edition includes new and significantly revised chapters that explore strategies for developing resilience in families, clinical practice, and educational settings as well as its nurturance in caregivers and teachers. Key areas of coverage include: Exploration of the four waves of resilience research. Resilience in gene-environment transactions. Resilience in boys and girls. Resilience in family processes. Asset building as an essential component of intervention. Assessment of social and emotional competencies related to resilience. Building resilience through school bullying prevention. Resilience in positive youth development. Enhancing resilience through effective thinking. The Handbook of Resilience in Children, Third Edition, is an essential reference for researchers, clinicians and allied practitioners, and graduate students across such interrelated disciplines as child and school psychology, social work, public health as well as developmental psychology, special and general education, child and adolescent psychiatry, family studies, and pediatrics.

Childhood traumas range widely in their severity and impact. A car accident, an earthquake or flood, being attacked by a dog, undergoing a frightening medical treatment?all are distinctly different events yet all provoke common symptoms of psychological trauma. These symptoms may include fearfulness, nightmares, and dramatic behavioral or personality changes. And parental anxiety over changes in a child can, in turn, complicate the healing process. Children and Trauma teaches parents and professionals about the effects of such ordeals on children and offers a blueprint for restoring a child's sense of safety and balance. Cynthia Monahon, a child psychologist who specializes in the treatment of psychological trauma, offers hope and reassurance for parents. She suggests straightforward ways to help kids through tough times, and also describes in detail the warning signs that indicate a child needs professional help. Monahon helps adults understand psychological trauma from a child's point of view and explores the ways both parents and professionals can help children heal.

Trauma and Play Therapy synthesizes new developments in the study of children’s trauma recovery to assist clinicians in combining play therapy with other powerful ways of addressing the needs of hurt children. The TraumaPlayTM model, formerly known as Flexibly Sequential Play Therapy, equips practitioners to manage and adapt aspects of the play therapy place and process in order to help children tell their stories while draining the emotional toxicity from traumatic experiences. Chapters explore the neurobiological and developmental foundations of play therapy as well as strategies for navigating children’s trauma in relation to specific aspects of play therapy such as sensory integration, metaphor, and humor. Enriched by a tapestry of illustrative case examples and tools for therapists, this is a vital new book for clinicians working at the intersection of play and children’s trauma.

This classic volume, now completely revised, has helped tens of thousands of therapists integrate play therapy and family therapy techniques in clinical practice. Eliana Gil demonstrates a broad range of verbal and nonverbal strategies for engaging all family members--including those who are ambivalent toward therapy--and tailoring interventions for different types of presenting problems. Numerous case examples illustrate ways to effectively use puppets, storytelling, art making, the family play genogram, drama, and other expressive techniques with children, adolescents, and their parents. Gil offers specific guidance for becoming a more flexible, creative practitioner and shows how recent advances in neuroscience support her approach. Photographs of client artwork are included. New to This Edition *Incorporates 20 years of clinical experience and the ongoing development of Gil's influential integrative approach. *All-new case material. *Discusses how current brain research can inform creative interventions. *Heightened focus on personal metaphors, complete with detailed suggestions for exploring and processing them.

Child advocates are becoming increasingly alarmed by the severity of abuse and neglect aimed toward children. Practical suggestions for professionals or others who guide, work with, or treat traumatized children are offered in this handbook. Drawn in part from interviews, the information here serves as a reference and guide and should help counselors, social workers, psychologists, teachers, foster parents, and other child advocates to understand how traumatic experiences affect children and what caregivers can do to foster the healing process. It also explains relevant treatment issues by describing the stages to recovery from trauma, panic attack intervention, and metaphorical storytelling. Some of the major resilience traits exhibited by children are likewise discussed. Some of the specific topics addressed include trauma and its impact on society, recognizing posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, the recovery process, healing interventions, and other helping strategies. The fact that many adults have also been traumatized as children is recognized and a chapter is devoted to this condition which presents the strengths and liabilities evident in caregivers who were traumatized as children. This chapter also offers suggestions for the self-care of child advocates. Citations and references for each chapter are included. (RJM)

Therapeutic Work for Children with Complex Trauma offers a contemporary three-track psychodynamic treatment model to mental health professionals working with traumatised children and their caregivers. The book provides a contemporary and comprehensive approach to working with traumatised children by integrating knowledge and skills from traditional psychodynamic child psychotherapy and more contemporary trauma-informed and mentalization-based frameworks. It advocates three tracks of work, involving direct work with the child, work with the child’s primary caregivers and work with the network. The book is divided into two parts: Part I of the book covers the theoretical background and Part II discusses the core components and phases of the trauma-informed and mentalization-based treatment approach. The authors bring out the specific dynamics of the psychotherapeutic work through four composite cases woven through the book. Written in accessible language this treatment guide is primarily aimed at psychodynamically trained psychotherapists, mental health professionals and professional caregivers working with traumatised children.

This book vividly shows how creative arts and play therapy can help children recover from experiences of disrupted or insecure attachment. Leading practitioners explore the impact of early relationship difficulties on children's emotions and behavior. Rich case material brings to life a range of therapeutic approaches that utilize art, music, movement, drama, creative writing, and play. The volume covers ways to address attachment issues with individuals of different ages, as well as their caregivers. Chapters clearly explain the various techniques and present applications for specific populations, including complex trauma survivors.