In Group Filial Therapy, therapists train parents to undertake play sessions with their own children until these skills become an integral part of family life. Based on Non-directive Play Therapy principles, this evidence-based approach is a highly effective method for working therapeutically with children and families in crisis. This professional manual provides an accessible introduction to the theory and practice of the Group Filial Therapy approach, and for the first time offers step-by-step instructions for designing and implementing filial therapy group programmes with families. The authors address important practical considerations, such as how to determine the composition of groups and the duration of programmes, how to conduct intake interviews and assessments, as well as the personal qualities and skills needed to be an effective Filial Therapy group leader. Comprehensive guidelines for implementing the 20 week model of Group Filial Therapy practiced by Dr Guerney are included, and the book closes with examples from clinical practice, including useful insights into the ways in which the programme may be adapted to meet the needs of particular groups. This definitive guide to the Group Filial Therapy approach is essential reading for all those working therapeutically with children and their families, including play and family therapists, mental health practitioners, social workers, parenting experts and foster and adoptive careers.

• Seminal / Historically Significant Theories
• Skills and Methods
• Special Topics
  

There are many ways to help children and families heal from trauma. Leaning on our ancestral wisdom of healing through play, art, nature, storytelling, body, touch, imagination, and mindfulness practice, Janet A. Courtney helps the clinician bring a variety of practices into the therapy room.

This book identifies seven stages of therapy that provide a framework for working with client’s emotional, cognitive, somatic, and sensory experiences to heal from trauma. Through composite case illustrations, practitioners will learn how to safely mitigate a range of trauma content, including complicated grief, natural disaster, children in foster care, aggression, toxic divorce, traumatized infants diagnosed with neonatal abstinence syndrome, and young mothers recovering from opioid addiction.

Practice exercises interspersed throughout guide practitioners to personally engage in the creative expressive and play therapy techniques presented in each chapter, augmenting professional self- awareness and skill- building competencies.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• History
• Seminal / Historically Significant Theories
• Skills and Methods
• Special Topics

Hidden Treasure is a follow up to Oaklander's first book, Windows To Our Children. Most of the books available in working with this population are written from a traditional 'play therapy' point of view. The Gestalt Therapy-based approach provides a more effective method for psychotherapeutic work with children of all ages. The focus is on the relationship between the therapist and client, rather than observation and interpretation. It is a vigorous, dynamic approach.Violet Oaklander uses a wide variety of creative, expressive and projective techniques in her work, and each chapter reflects and exemplifies the use of this work in the service of therapy. The approach is applicable to a wide variety of ages, as well as individual, family and group settings. The book will interest child and adolescent psychotherapists, psychologists, social workers, counselors, interns, school personnel as well as graduate-level students. Parents may also find it helpful, as well as adults who are interested in the child within.

• History
• Seminal / Historically Significant Theories
• Skills and Methods
• Special Topics

Draw me a picture of what you would look like if you turned into a monster" Dennis McCarthy's work with distressed or traumatized children begins with an exercise that is simple but very effective: he invites the child to communicate with him in their own way, through the non-verbal language of play. Using case studies from his clinical experience and with numerous children's monster drawings, McCarthy lets the meaningful self-expression of the child take centre stage. He demonstrates that being allowed to play, move and draw impulsively and creatively in the supportive presence of the therapist is in fact the beginning of the therapeutic process. These activities are shown to be more therapeutic for the child in practical terms than the interpretation of the clues it provides about the child's state of mind. This very accessible book will be inspiring reading for play therapists and other professionals working therapeutically with young children and their families.

• Seminal / Historically Significant Theories
• Skills and Methods
• Special Topics

Infant Play Therapy is a groundbreaking resource for practitioners interested in the varied play therapy theories, models, and programs available for the unique developmental needs of infants and children under the age of three.

The impressive list of expert contributors in the fields of play therapy and infant mental health cover a wide range of early intervention play-based models and topics. Chapters explore areas including: neurobiology, developmental trauma, parent-infant attachment relationships, neurosensory play, affective touch, grief and loss, perinatal depression, adoption, autism, domestic violence, sociocultural factors, and more. Chapter case studies highlight leading approaches and offer techniques to provide a comprehensive understanding of both play therapy and the ways we understand and recognize the therapeutic role of play with infants.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Seminal and Historically Significant Theories
  
• Skills and Methods
  
• Special Topics
  

Play therapy can do more than we thought. Much more. Integrating Extremes: Aggression and Death in the Playroom offers a new perspective on working with kids. Lisa Dion, LPC, RPT-S, provides therapists and other professionals that work with kids a science-based process for working with children at the deepest, most profound levels of healing while staying safe and sane. This book explores a new understanding of aggression and death play that's based on brain function and neuro-science. It provides therapists with a framework to authentically work with the intensity of aggression and death play, without causing their own nervous systems to start to shut down. Integrating Extremes shows therapists how to facilitate aggression and death play in a way that truly allows healing to occur, for both the therapist and the child, at the deepest level possible.

• Special Topics
  

An integrative approach to play therapy blending various therapeutic treatment models and techniques. 

Reflecting the transition in the field of play therapy from a "one size fits all" approach to a more eclectic framework that integrates more than one perspective, Integrative Play Therapy explores methods for blending the best theories and treatment techniques to resolve the most common psychological disorders of childhood.

• Seminal / Historically Significant Theories
• Skills and Methods
• Special Topics

Nature-Based Play and Expressive Therapies: Interventions for Working with Children, Teens, and Families invites readers on an empowering journey into nature-based therapy, where the healing properties of nature intertwine with the therapeutic powers of play and expressive art. This comprehensive guide equips readers as they discover exciting new ways to effectively connect with clients through a variety of nature-based mediums and in the context of a safe and empowering relationship. Readers will learn both the theoretical justification for the approaches found in the book as well as interventions and techniques that can be used with clients of all ages. With contributions from seasoned experts in the fields of play, expressive, and nature-based therapies this book encompasses topics including cultural considerations, individual, family, and trauma therapies. Each chapter is brought to life with colorful handouts and poignant vignettes, providing clinicians with a more complete understanding of these modalities. This book is an essential guide for clinicians who are interested in enriching their therapeutic approach by embracing nature-based interventions into their practice. Whether utilized indoors or outdoors, these nature-based interventions empower therapists to create nurturing environments that inspire growth, health, and transformation in the lives of children, teens, and families.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics
  

Play therapy expert Terry Kottman and her colleague Kristin Meany-Walen provide a comprehensive update to this spirited and fun text on integrating Adlerian techniques into play therapy. After an introduction to the basics of the approach and the concepts of Individual Psychology, the stages of Adlerian play therapy are outlined through step-by-step instructions, detailed treatment plans, an ongoing case study, and numerous vignettes. Readers will learn straightforward methods for building a relationship with a child and exploring the child s intrapersonal and interpersonal dynamics, as well as ways to help the child gain insight into his or her behavioral patterns and develop new interactional skills. In addition to presenting up-to-date information on trends in play therapy, this latest edition emphasizes the current climate of evidence-based treatment and includes a new chapter on conducting research in play therapy.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Seminal / Historically Significant Theories
  
• Skills and Methods

Over the past several years, numerous changes within the field have encouraged the development of improved techniques that surpass traditional assessment protocols and methods, such as new scales, more focused procedures, and instruments with higher levels of reliability and validity than have been previously established. Now, this classic book has been updated to address and reflect these ongoing changes. Focusing on the needs of the clinician, this new edition presents empirically tested diagnostic tools and describes improvements to existing play therapy assessment instruments, such as new testing instruments for time-limited therapy and early intervention assessment tools for young children.

• History
• Seminal / Historically Significant Theories
• Skills and Methods
• Special Topics