This accessible resource contains therapeutic stories and guidance for adults who are supporting young people aged 10–14 in foster, adoptive or kinship families. With a solution-focused approach, the stories are designed to address a range of social and emotional problems, covering topics such as bullying, eating disorders, trauma, parents’ health, homophobia and racism. Each story is accompanied by relevant context and theory, discussion points and creative activities that will stimulate the young person’s problem-solving skills and imagination, empowering them to explore solutions to situations in their own lives. Key features include: 35 therapeutic stories created to help young people make sense of their experiences, illustrating empathetic responses and solutions to social and emotional difficulties. Discussion points and related activities based on the author’s extensive practical experience and knowledge. Practice guidelines and case studies to illustrate how the story-making approach can be used by therapists, adoptive parents, social workers and teachers. Photocopiable and downloadable resources. This book will enable foster, adoptive and kinship parents, social workers, therapists, teachers and other professionals to support the young people with whom they are working to resolve their dilemmas and enhance their self-esteem.

The Routledge International Handbook of Therapeutic Stories and Storytelling is a unique book that explores stories from an educational, community, social, health, therapeutic and therapy perspectives, acknowledging a range of diverse social and cultural views in which stories are used and written by esteemed storytellers, artists, therapists and academics from around the globe. The book is divided into five main sections that examine different approaches and contexts for therapeutic stories and storytelling. The collected authors explore storytelling as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic, in education, social and community settings, and in health and therapeutic contexts. The final section offers an International Story Anthology written by co-editor Sharon Jacksties and a final story by Katja Gorečan. This book is of enormous importance to psychotherapists and related mental health professionals, as well as academics, storytellers, teachers, people working in special educational needs, and all those with an interest in storytelling and its applied value.

Narrative and Dramatic Approaches to Children’s Life Story with Foster, Adoptive and Kinship Families outlines narrative and dramatic approaches to improve vulnerable family relationships. It provides a model which offers new ways for parents to practise communicating with their children and develop positive relationships. The book focuses on the Theatre of Attachment model - a highly innovative approach which draws from a strong theoretical base to demonstrate the importance of narrative and dramatic play for sharing the children’s life history in the family home with their adoptive, foster or kinship parents. An emphasis is on having fun ways to work through complex feelings and divided loyalties, so as to secure attachment. This practice model aims to raise children’s self-esteem and communication skills and to combat the profound effects of abuse, neglect on trauma on children’s development. This book will be of great interest for academics, post-graduate students, universities and Training bodies, service providers and practitioners involved in social work and creative therapies, child psychologists, child psychotherapists and public and private adoption and foster care agencies.

This third edition of Current Approaches in Drama Therapy offers a revised and updated comprehensive compilation of the primary drama therapy methods and models that are being utilized and taught in the United States and Canada. Two new approaches have been added, Insight Improvisation by Joel Gluck, and the Miss Kendra Program by David Read Johnson, Nisha Sajnani, Christine Mayor, and Cat Davis, as well as an established but not previously recognized approach in the field, Autobiographical Therapeutic Performance, by Susana Pendzik. The book begins with an updated chapter on the development of the profession of drama therapy in North America, followed by a chapter on the current state of the field written by the editors and Jason Butler. Section II includes the 13 drama therapy approaches, and Section III includes the three related disciplines of Psychodrama and Sociodrama, Playback Theatre, and Theatre of the Oppressed that have been particularly influential to drama therapists. This highly informative and indispensable volume is structured for drama therapy training programs. It will continue to be useful as a basic text of drama therapy for both students and seasoned practitioners, including mental health professionals (such as counselors, clinical social workers, psychologists, creative arts therapists, occupational therapists), theater and drama teachers, school counselors, and organizational development consultants.

Narrative Therapies with Children and their Families introduces and develops the principles of narrative approaches to systemic therapeutic work, and shows how they can provide a powerful framework for engaging troubled children and their families. Written by eminent and leading clinicians, known nationally and internationally for their research and theory development in the field of child and family mental health, the book covers a broad range of difficult and sensitive topics, including trauma, abuse and youth offending. It illustrates the wide application of these principles in the context of the particular issues and challenges presented when working with children and families. Since publication of the first edition, the importance of narrative therapy has continued to grow, and this new edition provides an updated and revised overview of the field, along with three new chapters to keep apace with developments in child mental health trauma work. This book remains a key text in the field of systemic narrative training and practice. With clinical examples throughout, this practical book will be welcomed by family and systemic therapists and other professionals in the field of child, adolescent and family mental health.

This book explores the importance of effective multi-agency and multi-disciplinary partnership work for the mental health of children and young people in care and adoption. It takes an overall systemic perspective, but the co-authors contribute different theoretical approaches. It focuses on practice, showing how practitioners can draw on their varied theoretical approaches to enhance the way they work together and in partnership with carers and with professionals from other agencies. The book provides a context that looks at the needs of children and young people in the care and adoption systems, the overall importance for their mental health of joined up 'corporate parenting', and national and local approaches to this. It then moves to focus on practical ways of working therapeutically in partnership with others who contribute diverse skills and perspectives, using specific case examples. Additional chapters look at collaborative ways of working with key carers to enhance their therapeutic role. Finally, some of the main elements of partnership collaboration are explored, as well as the challenges of work across agencies and disciplines.

Developing Secure Attachment Through Play offers a range of imaginative and engaging play-based activities, designed to help vulnerable young children forge safe attachments with their caregivers. The book focuses on key developmental stages that may have been missed due to challenging life circumstances, such as social-emotional development, object permanence and physical and sensory development. It also considers pertinent issues including trauma, separation, loss and transition. Chapters explore each topic from a theoretical perspective, before offering case studies that illustrate the theory in practice, and a range of activities to demonstrate the effectiveness of play in developing healthy attachments. Key features of this book include: • 80 activities that can be carried out at home or in educational settings, designed to facilitate attachment and enhance social-emotional development; • case vignettes exploring creative activities such as mirroring, construction play, physical play, baby doll play and messy play; • scripts and strategies to create a safe and respectful environment for vulnerable children; • photocopiable and downloadable resources, including early learning goals, a collection of therapeutic stories and a transition calendar By engaging children in these activities, parents, caregivers and practitioners can help the children in their care gain a sense of belonging and develop their self-esteem. This will be a valuable resource for early years practitioners, adoptive, foster and kinship parents, and therapists and social workers supporting young children.