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Therapeutic Engagement of Children and Adolescents: Play,
Symbol, Drawing and Storytelling Strategies
by Dr. David Crenshaw
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from publisher
This book addresses the issues that
child and adolescent therapists struggle with the most--how to
meaningfully engage and create conditions for transformative change with
children and teens who are unwilling participants at the outset and who
regard any allowed influence by the therapist to be a competitive
defeat. To engage these particularly reluctant children, Dr. Crenshaw
has expanded the variety of stories offered in a previous book Engaging
Resistant Children in Therapy, and added not only drawing, but symbol
work and play therapy variations to offers choices and a range of tools
to involve them in a meaningful collaborative therapeutic process. The
book begins with a review of research and a rationale for using tools
consisting of symbolic play for younger children and the therapeutic use
of symbols, drawing, and storytelling in order to create portals of
entry to reach disconnected children. The book is organized in chapters
along major therapeutic goals as follows with specific tools described
to meet the objectives: the challenge of therapeutic engagement with
reluctant children; relational strategies to engage heart and mind; the
therapeutic use of symbols to access the internal and relational worlds
of the child or teen; building the therapeutic alliance with strategies
that honor strengths; strategies to strengthen the self-observer;
facilitating empathy for self and others; strategies to access the pain
of social rejection; tools to address grief and traumatic loss; the
"quest for home" strategies; and the delicate operation of facilitating
hope. The strategies described were chosen and developed based on and
informed by a vast developmental psychopathology.
Reviews
"This book
deftly combines symbols, heartfelt feelings, relational theory,
bibliotherapy, and several developmentally-appropriate and creative art
strategies to ultimately bolster the empirically-validated and single
most important curative component of child psychotherapy: the
nonjudgmental, nonevaluative relationship between the counselor and
client. Having incorporated Crenshaw's heartfelt feelings activity
(Chapter 2) into my play therapy practice and graduate school training
curriculum, I can affirm that my child clients, graduate students and
supervised clinicians find it effective as the child is freed to express
his/her feelings in nonthreatening ways. I highly recommend this book to
graduate students and mental health practitioners searching for
innovative ways to therapeutically engage and connect to young children
and resistant adolescents." - Eric Green, PhD, Johns Hopkins
University, Baltimore, MD
"In this book,
Dr. Crenshaw invites us into his office to watch over his shoulder as he
and helpers such as 'Misunderstood Mouse' and 'Blow-Up Bernie' develop
therapeutic relationships with children and adolescents who are facing
major challenges in their lives. He then invites us into a conversation
about the theory, best practice research, and practical resources for
effective work with young clients and their families. This book is rich
in content for both the reflective and active aspects of the therapeutic
relationship." - John W. Seymour, Ph.D., RPT-S, AAMFT supervisor,
associate professor, Minnesota State University, Mankato.
"This is one of the most
engaging 'how-to' books in recent memory. It combines play, symbol work,
storytelling and drawing in ways that provide symbolic links to a
child's inner world. The stories themselves are gems and when combined
with Dr. Crenshaw's intuitive and sensitive questioning, they serve all
children well. This book provides a major contribution that is of
importance for the novice as well as for the more experienced
practitioner. I only wish I had it many years ago!" -Lois Carey, LCSW,
author, Sandplay: Therapy with Children and Families; editor of
Expressive and Creative Arts Methods for Trauma Survivors
“This
book is a gem! Dr. Crenshaw presents a variety of incredibly helpful
therapeutic strategies that you can use in your practice with children
and adolescents. He does a beautiful job of outlining practical,
easy-to-follow directions for the activities, along with touching case
examples and citations of empirical research that make these
techniques practical, therapeutically useful, and easy to "sell" to
managed care providers.”-Terry
Kottman, Ph.D., RPT-S, Founder of The Encouragement Zone, and author of
Partners in Play: An Adlerian Approach to Play Therapy and Play
Therapy: Basics and Beyond.
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Dr.
Crenshaw's latest book,
