Creative Therapy with Children & Adolescents

I purchased this book while in grad school because I had a difficult time developing my own ideas. I have to say that I still reference this book when I need a quick activity. Although the activities are designed for chlldren I have had great results tailoring them for adults and older adults. This can be a good basic resource to build on.

This book is a great companion to my psychotherapy treatment planner. Although I have worked in social service for many years I was new to clinical work with children and adolescents. The activities in this book helped the children that I work with open right up about their therapeutic issues, and gave great ideas of how to address them in a non-threatening way.

Excellent book! I am a doctoral student in Clinical Psychology just starting to work with children. This book is full of good ideas.

Creative Therapy With Children & Adolescents has been of great assistance in my practice. The activities in this book has helped me to bridge some of the gap that standard conversational therapy or 'therapy' games have not. I found it especially helpful that each activity has a target therapuetic outcome. There are also variations listed that can be used with younger or lower functioning children. The children seem to enjoy the activities as well - It seems less like therapy and more like playing, but allowing them to work through sensative issues.

Creative therapies have long been used in Britain and have achieved wider recognition, acceptance and status than they have in the USA. We can all learn from this book! The authors have a cognitive behavioral theoretical orientation, but since activities are geared towards children and adolescents to 16, the family systems approach is taken into consideration. However, any therapist can mold the exercises to fit within their theoretical model. The chapters are progressive, with the first devoted to "Getting to know You", exercises to use in establishing rapport with the child, as well as use as an aid in assessment. The 5th chapter is titled "Learning New Skills" and the 10th or last, deals with reviewing the progress the child has made. All worksheets etc, are copyright free, and a creative therapist will be able to eliven the exercises with their own unique twist. Exercises have fun and catchy names like 'Through the Rainforest', 'Shuddering Snakes and Likeable Ladders'and 'The conquering Soldier'...what child wouldn't delight in playing one of these games? Not only can these 'games' be used in school counseling settings, but will enliven any private practice.