Showcasing approaches as creative and playful as young clients themselves, the book presents therapy as a dialogue of discovery. Through transcripts and compelling case examples, contributors illuminate how drama, art, play, and humor can be used effectively to engage with children of different ages, and to honor their idiosyncratic language, knowledge, and perspective.

Narrative Therapies with Children and their Families introduces and develops the concepts and principles of narrative approaches to therapeutic work and demonstrates how narrative based approaches to practice provide a powerful and client friendly framework for engaging and working with troubled children and their families. Using clinical examples, each chapter develops a methodology around narrative practice and gives practical advice on working with narrative therapy in a variety of settings. Covering a broad range of difficult and sensitive topics, including trauma, abuse and youth offending, this book succeeds in illustrating the wide application of these principles in the context of the particular issues and challenges presented when working with children and families. This practical, practice based book will be welcomed by any professionals in the field of child, adolescent and family mental health who want to explore the benefits of employing narrative based approaches in their work.

The authors describe their success with narrative therapy, a lighter, playful approach to the serious problems encountered in child and family therapy. They provide case vignettes in the first two sections which show how children who might have been labeled belligerent, hyperactive, anxious, or out of touch with reality are found to be capable of taming their tempers, controlling frustration, and using their imaginations to the fullest. They address the helpful role of family members, as well. The third section of the text offers five extended case stories. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

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 volume presents a unique and powerful brief therapy approach that combines the best elements of the strategic and narrative traditions in family therapy. Highly effective in treating a broad range of clinical problems, this integrative model enables therapists to alter meanings while working toward behavior change in a goal-directed framework. Taking readers step by step through the process of change, the book shows how problems develop from the mishandling of ordinary life events and how therapists can map problem cycles, reframe problems with respect, and work with clients to create simple and elegant solutions.

Narrative Therapy provides an introduction to the theory, history, research, and practice of this post-structural approach. First developed by David Epston and Michael White, this therapeutic theory is founded on the idea that people have many interacting narratives that go into making up their sense of who they are, and that the issues they bring to therapy are not restricted to (or located) within the clients themselves, but rather are influenced and shaped by cultural discourses about identity and power. Narrative therapy centers around a rich engagement in re-storying a client's narrative by re-considering, re-appreciating, and re-authoring the client's preferred lives and relationships. In this book, Stephen Madigan presents and explores this versatile and useful approach, its theory, history, therapy process, primary change mechanisms, the empirical basis for its effectiveness, and recent developments that have refined the theory and expanded how it may be practiced. This essential primer, amply illustrated with case examples featuring diverse clients, is perfect for graduate students studying theories of therapy and counseling, as well as for seasoned practitioners interested in understanding how a narrative therapy approach has evolved and how it might be used in their practice.