This Child of Mine: A Therapist's Journey

Martha Wakenshaw is a rebel among psychologists. She believes in the healing power of love, of simple human decency & natural bonds.As a Children's Advocate for a rural Domestic Violence Prevention Program for several years, I learnt about the power of play & art therapy. Indeed, I recommended many of the Children for whom I spoke, to such a therapy, & I was impressed both by the process & the results.Here you will meet the Therapist, who has opened her identity so you will feel as if you are inside her head, discovering her philosophies & her therapeutic skills, her naivete & confusion... & her endurance & courage.THIS CHILD OF MINE is moving, interesting & enlightening.A must for anyone working with traumatized children & their therapists.

Be prepared for some of the most horrific stories of situations that some children live through. Martha Wakenshaw is a professional therapist who has dealt extensively with children from some of the most frightening family situations that you can imagine. As you read this book you will be transported to some of the most horrific situations that a child could live through. Be prepared to cry for the child and for the therapist as she deals with a child welfare system that seems to have very little interest in a child's welfare and insurance companies that think a lifetime of abuse can be resolved in ten weeks. Feel the pain of the children, feel the pain and love of the therapist, feel the frustration as both try to work through their difficulties. "This child of mine" shows Martha Wakenshaw's committment to the children brought to her for healing. It is not another child with another problem, they are real children which she accepts as if they were her own child.If you are even remotely considering working with hurt or abused children in a theraputic setting then you owe it to yourself to read this book. An eye opening account of what goes on in the life of a caring and compassionate therapist it is an emotional roller coaster of a read.

Ms. Wakenshaw has given of herself to the children and families as well as to the readers of this book. She does not gloss over details that are traumatic and real nor does she exploit them. This poignant glimpse into the life a therapist working with traumatized children is not easy to read but I believe is essential to anyone considering working with children. Ms. Wakenshaw opens her heart to us as she did to the children, sometimes to her own detriment. You will feel what she felt and see through her eyes as she desperately tries to save fragile little lives. You may get new insights into the laws and policies surrounding the protection of children and families. Ms. Wakenshaw uses poetic imagery to describe what she was going through in a way that is real and moving. You will never forget this book.

Four-year-old Jackson witnessed the attempted murder of his mother. He ran to call the emergency number like the medics at his pre-school had said -- but the phone was dead. He was found in the back yard, clawing the fence, splinters were under his nails. Martha Wakenshaw, a psychotherapist specializing in play and expressive arts therapy with children, took this youngster who told her that "If you really want to kill someone, all you gotta do is punch them in the heart", and helped him to once again become a child who could laugh, play, share, and be at peace. This Child Of Mine: A Therapist's Journey is a personal (as opposed to a coldly clinical) account, not about sensationalized child abuse, but about the healing relationship between therapist and child -- and how it works or fails despite all efforts. Wakenshaw describes her sessions with Bailey (who has to kill the Bad Guy); Candace (who loves cats and wants a new home); Raymond (beaten but loves to play); and many more. Here revealed is the pain of failure, the frustrations with "the system"; and the transcendent joy arising from the resilience of the tiniest human spirits -- children who evoke the child and the parent in all of us. This Child Of Mine is strongly recommended reading for anyone considering psychotherapeutic work with children of any age, circumstance, or background.

Martha Wakenshaw's book offers an honest,well written commentary on our society's failure to love and care for our children. She takes us deep into the pain and frustration of child therapy, but she does more than just that - she shows us the human side of an often impersonal, objective profession. Wakenshaw wants us to see the pain, both personally and professionally, and thereby to wake us up and make us see ourselves and our society in a new way. This book hits all the senses and indirectly calls us to act on behalf of our children - to love and care for our children. Read this book.