Unravelling Trauma and Weaving Resilience with Systemic and Narrative Therapy is an innovative book that details how clinicians can engage children, families and their networks in creative and collaborative relationships to elicit change within the context of trauma and violence. Combining systemic, narrative and dialogical theoretical frameworks with clinical examples, this volume focuses on therapeutic conversations that can help children, and those involved with them, deconstruct their experienced difficulties, and create more hopeful stories and alternative ways of relating to one another through a sense of play. Vermeire advocates for serious playfulness as a way of directly addressing trauma and its effects, as well as along ‘trauma-sensitive’ side paths. Puppetry, artwork, interviews and theatre play are used to weave networks of resilience in ever-widening circles and this approach is informed by the awareness that individual problems are always to be seen as relational, social and political. This book is an important read for therapists and social workers who work with traumatised children and their multi-stressed families.

Forced migration has become an inescapable reality of our world in the 21stcentury. Why? The traumatic experiences of refugees are key to understanding why people keep on the move despite enormous risks. This book sheds light into the psychological impact entailed in refugee trajectories. With findings mainly from Eritrean refugee communities in multiple locations, the underpinning research reveals alarming levels of individual and collective trauma. The book outlines a new approach for treatment: Trauma, Recovery, Understanding, Self-Help Therapy TRUST. The intervention was developed as a practical and low resource support to traumatised vulnerable refugees. TRUST utilises information technology to reduce levels of trauma, enabling refugees to build social and economic resilience as an alternative to pursuing risky migratory trajectories. The study concludes that providing psycho-social support is a more prudent alternative to managing forced migration and avoiding the use of hostile refugee polices that expose refugees to more trauma and put them at risk of heinous organised crimes including human trafficking. TRUST resulted in significant positive outcomes for refugee wellbeing even in deprived refugee camps.

Introduces a Powerful New Brief Therapy Approach This groundbreaking book is the first to provide a comprehensive model for effectively blending the two main postmodern brief therapy approaches: solution-focused and narrative therapies. It harnesses the power of both models—the strengths-based, problem-solving approach of SFT and the value-honoring and re-descriptive approach of Narrative Therapy--to offer brief, effective help to clients that builds on their strengths and abilities to envision and craft preferred outcomes. Authored by a leading trainer, teacher, and practitioner in the field, the book provides an overview of the history of both models and outlines their differences, similarities, limitations and strengths. It then demonstrates how to blend these two approaches in working with such issues as trauma, addictions, grief, relationship issues, family therapy and mood issues. Each concern is illustrated with a case study from practice with individual adults, adolescents, children, and families. Useful client dialogue and forms are included to help the clinician guide clients in practice. Each chapter concludes with a summary describing and reinforcing the principles of the topic and a personal exercise so the reader can experience the approach first hand. Key Features: Describes how two popular postmodern therapy models are combined to create a powerful new therapeutic approach—the first book to do so Includes case studies reflecting the model’s use with individual adults, children, adolescents, and families Provides supporting dialogue and forms for practitioners Authored by a leading figure in SFT and its application in a variety of setting Presents an overview of the history of both models

Making Social Worlds: A Communication Perspective offers the most accessible introduction to the tools and concepts of CMM – Coordinated Management of Meaning – one of the groundbreaking theories of speech communication. Draws upon advances in research for the most up-to-date concepts in speech communication Defines the 'critical moments' of communication for students and practitioners; encouraging us to view communication as a two-sided process of coordinating actions and making/managing meanings Questions how we can intervene in dangerous or undesirable patterns of communication that will result in better social worlds

Narrative Psychiatry and Family Collaborations is about helping families with complex psychiatric problems by seeing and meeting the families and the family members, as the best versions of themselves, before we see and address the diagnoses. This book draws on ten years of clinical research and contains stories about helping people, who are heavily burdened with psychiatric illnesses, to find ways to live a life as close as possible to their dreams. The chapters are organized according to ideas, values, and techniques. The book describes family-oriented practices, narrative collaborative practices, narrative psychiatric practices, and narrative agency practices. It also talks about wonderfulness interviewing, mattering practices, public note taking on paper charts, therapeutic letter writing, diagnoses as externalized problems, narrative medicine, and family community meetings. Each chapter includes case studies that illustrate the theory, ethics, and practice, told by Nina Jørring in collaboration with the families and colleagues. The book will be of interest to child and adolescent psychiatrists and all other mental health professionals working with children and families.

In this book, the author describes the dialogic therapist as someone whose therapy is guided by the use of systemic hypotheses, helping the readers understand how the ideas and techniques can take their place among the vast array of ideas in the systemic field.

What are some of the central connections between narrative, systemic and attachment therapies? How do early emotional experiences in families shape our narratives about ourselves and our families? In what ways do family attachments shape our narrative abilities, such as being able to reflect on and integrate our experiences? This book sets out a framework for practice – Attachment Narrative Therapy – that provides a new approach to working with families, couples and individuals. This is not offered as a prescriptive model but as an aid and guide to practice that draws aspects of narrative and attachment therapy into systemic work. The synthesis of these ideas offers clinicians a new integrative way to approach their practice – one in which the three approaches are used to create a greater whole than their constituent parts. The book includes: Clinical examples Personal reflections Frameworks for clinical practice Therapeutic guides that include details of the application of core techniques Extensive reading guides that offer connections to related theory and practice Attachment Narrative Therapy is essential reading for a wide variety of therapists and counsellors along with researchers and trainers in those fields. It also provides insight into good practice for health and social welfare professionals in the area of family and child welfare.