Innovative Psychotherapy Techniques in Child and Adolescent Therapy, Second Edition. Therapists who treat children and adolescents are confronted with unique problems that often challenge traditional methods of intervention. This Second Edition is an indispensable resource, revised and updated to provide therapists with a wide variety of valuable treatment and nontraditional intervention techniques, such as expressive arts, relaxation, deep pressure/touch, confrontational, stress-challenge, nature-oriented, and modeling therapy. The Second Edition provides important, clinically proven techniques, including: Wilderness/Challenge programs for youth The use of dance movement therapy with troubled youth Musical interaction therapy for autistic children Pet therapy The video playback technique with children Hypnotic techniques for children with anxiety problems Touch therapy for infants, children, and adolescents Therapeutic use of computers with children Biofeedback with children and adolescents Programmed distance writing for acting out adolescents Guided imagery with children and adolescents Bibliotherapy for children and teens Focusing as a therapeutic technique with children and adolescents. These techniques cut across diagnostic categories and theoretical orientations and can be integrated within all therapeutic styles.

Presenting a fresh approach to child and adolescent therapy, this book identifies five principles at the heart of the most potent evidence-based treatments--and shows how to apply them. Clinicians learn efficient, engaging ways to teach the skills of Feeling Calm, Increasing Motivation, Repairing Thoughts, Solving Problems, and Trying the Opposite (FIRST) to 5- to 15-year-olds and their parents. FIRST principles can be used flexibly and strategically in treatment of problems including anxiety, posttraumatic stress, depression, and misconduct. In a convenient large-size format, the book features 37 reproducible parent handouts, decision trees, and other clinical tools. Purchasers get access to a companion website where they can download and print these materials, plus Spanish-language versions of selected parent handouts.

A trusted, comprehensive resource, this volume demonstrates a range of creative approaches for facilitating children's emotional reparation and recovery from trauma. Experts in play, art, music, movement, and drama therapy, as well as bibliotherapy, describe step-by-step strategies for working with children, families, and groups. Rich with case material and artwork, the book is practical and user-friendly. Specific types of stressful experiences discussed include parental loss, child abuse, family violence, bullying, and mass trauma. New to This Edition: *Updated and expanded discussions of trauma and of the neurobiological basis for creative interventions. *Chapters on art therapy and EMDR, body maps and dissociation, sandtray play, resiliency-based movement therapy, work with clay, mindfulness, and stress reduction with music therapy. *Highlights important developments in knowledge about self-regulation, resilience, and posttraumatic growth.

A common question at the initial meeting of a family therapist and a new client(s) is often whether or not to include a child or children in the counseling sessions. The inclusion of a child in the family therapy process often changes the dynamic between client and therapist -- and between the clients themselves -- within the context of the counseling sessions. And yet, although this is such a common experience, many counselors and family therapists are not adequately equipped to advise parents on whether to include a child in therapy sessions. Once the child does make an appearance in the counseling session, the therapist is faced with the challenges inherent in caring for a child, in addition to many concerns due to the unique circumstance of the structured therapy. Counseling a child in the context of a family therapy session is a specific skill that has not received the attention that it deserves. This book is intended as a guide for both novice and experienced counselors and family therapists, covering a wide range of topics and offering a large body of information on how to effectively counsel children and their families. It includes recent research on a number of topics including working with children in a family context, the exclusion of children from counseling, and counselor training methods and approaches, the effectiveness of filial play therapy, the effects of divorce on children, and ADHD. Theoretical discussion is given to different family therapy approaches including family play therapy and filial play therapy. Central to the text are interviews with leaders in the field, including Salvador Minuchin, Eliana Gil, Rise VanFleet and Lee Shilts. A chapter devoted to ethical and legal issues in working with children in family counseling provides a much-needed overview of this often overlooked topic. Chapters include discussion of specific skills relevant to child counseling in the family context, case vignettes and examples, practical tips for the counselor, and handouts for parents.

Solution-Focused Therapy with Children and Adolescents offers mental health professionals an integration of creative and playful approaches and solution-focused therapy. The author presents developmentally appropriate and expressive alternatives to oral communication including sandtray, writing, puppetry, drawing and coloring, photography, and music. The text presents an overview of strength-based and creative approaches with a focused examination of the philosophy and process of solution-focused therapy, then divides chapters into specific stages of therapy—beginnings, searching for treasure, setting goals, and ending the session—with creative techniques offered in each section. The final chapter addresses working with children and adolescents in solution-focused groups, including how to set up groups and progress through different group stages, presenting specific techniques and activities focused on each stage of the group process.

Therapists who work with children and adolescents are frequently faced with nonresponsive, reticent, or completely nonverbal clients. This volume brings together expert clinicians who explore why 4- to 16-year-olds may have difficulty talking and provide creative ways to facilitate communication. A variety of play, art, movement, and animal-assisted therapies, as well as trauma-focused therapy with adolescents, are illustrated with vivid clinical material. Contributors give particular attention to the neurobiological effects of trauma, how they manifest in the body when children "clam up," and how to help children self-regulate and feel safe. Most chapters conclude with succinct lists of recommended practices for engaging hard-to-reach children that therapists can immediately try out in their own work.

This title provides ways of working with teenagers to help them regain confidence and feel positive about their future and to make their therapeutic journey a stimulating yet emotionally stabilising time.