This book is intended to provide to the eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) clinician advanced tools to treat children with complex trauma, attachment wounds, and dissociative tendencies. It covers key elements to develop case conceptualization skills and treatment plans based on the adaptive information processing (AIP) model. A broader perspective is presented by integrating concepts from attachment theory, affect regulation theory, affective neuroscience, and interpersonal neurobiology. These concepts and theories not only support the AIP model, but they expand clinicians’ understanding and effectiveness when working with dissociative, insecurely attached, and dysregulated children. The book presents aspects of our current understanding of how our biological apparatus is orchestrated, how its appropriate development is thwarted when early, chronic, and pervasive trauma and adversity are present in our lives, and how healing can be promoted through the use of EMDR therapy. In addition, it provides a practical guide to the use of EMDR within a systemic framework. It illustrates how EMDR therapy can be used to help caregivers develop psychobiological attunement and synchrony as well as to enhance their mentalizing capacities. Another important goal of the book is to bring strategies from other therapeutic approaches, such as play therapy, sand tray therapy, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Theraplay, and Internal Family Systems (IFS) into a comprehensive EMDR treatment, while maintaining appropriate adherence to the AIP model and EMDR methodology. This is done with the goal of enriching the work that often times is necessary with complexly traumatized children and their families.

This book is intended for school and clinical psychologists who work with children and adolescents, as well as for graduate students who are taking advanced courses in psychological assessment or the assessment of culturally and linguistically diverse children and adolescents. The strategies described in the book are based on up-to-date research on typical cognitive, language, emotional, and social development of culturally and linguistically diverse children and adolescents, including those who are studying in their second language; cultural differences and acculturation; culturally based perspectives on disabilities and disorders; and disorders that might develop due to the challenges experienced by some immigrants and refugees. It discusses demographic, socioeconomic, policy-related, and educational contexts of cultural and linguistic diversity that pertain to the academic achievement of children of immigrants and refugees and other marginalized groups in countries that have high levels of immigration. The book addresses research on the typical developmental trajectory of language and literacy of children and adolescents who must learn in a language that is not the language of their home. It describes methods for assessing children and adolescents’ oral language proficiency (OLP) in their first and second languages, and discusses the issues involved and methods for assessing intelligence, academic achievement, and behavioral, social, and emotional functioning. Strategies for communicating assessment results to culturally and linguistically diverse children and adolescents and to their parents, teachers, physicians, and other professionals who work with them as well as consultation, advocacy, and report writing issues are also described.

Play therapy has been recognized in the counseling profession as a developmentally appropriate model for working with children and adolescents. This book provides a comprehensive introduction to structured, prescriptive approaches to play therapy to those desiring to gain more information and knowledge about the use of different directive play therapy modalities. It introduces the unique integration of play therapy and different theoretical models and encompasses the essential concepts and practices of directive play therapy. Most importantly, the book shares some guidelines for planning and selecting toys and materials for a directive approach. It also incorporates settings and skills necessary for effective implementation and addresses common questions asked about the use of these. The book provides the exploration and detailed description of various theoretical approaches to directive play therapy: post-Jungian directive sandtray in play therapy, solution-focused play therapy, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing and play therapy, directive play therapy techniques in trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy, child parent relationship therapy, creativity in play therapy using technology, directive filial therapy models with very young children, humanistic sandtray therapy with children and adults, and directive approaches to working with parents. The distinctive techniques and processes of each of these approaches are explained. Finally, case examples are given to demonstrate their application and implementation.

This book is dedicated specifically to increasing the confidence and professional competence of graduate students and early career professionals who use cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) with children and adolescents. It shows some opening remarks for mental health professionals (MHPs) and trainees who are new to doing CBT and positive psychology (PP) treatments with kids suffering from an internalizing disorder. Behavioral activation is a tried-and-true stable of CBT. A common presenting complaint among depressed or stressed kids is poor sleep. The book shows some of the strategies for combating insomnia. Problem solving is another staple of CBT. The methodology for problem solving is a little bit different if it is done with an individual kid or in a family session. The factors to be considered to introduce communications training and problem solving in a family or an individual session are: age, maturity level, and psychological mindedness of the child. Exposure procedure is used for kids who are treated for anxiety. This chapter shows a list of common exposures among anxious youth. Physiological calming and coping thoughts are the two popular techniques for supporting exposures. Involving the parent is often key with doing exposures. The book also presents some of the principles and methodologies with regard to parent interactions. It is important for parents to be open with their kid about their thinking about the value of a mental health evaluation. Sometimes parents ask for guidance about how to have the discussion with their kid.

This book provides a comprehensive model for effectively blending the two main postmodern brief therapy approaches: solution focused and narrative therapies. It harnesses the power of both models the strengths-based, problem-solving approach of solution focused therapy (SFT) and the value-honoring and re-descriptive approach of narrative therapy to offer brief, effective help to clients that builds on their strengths and abilities to envision and craft preferred outcomes. The book provides an overview of the history of both models and outlines their differences, similarities, limitations, and strengths. It then demonstrates how to blend these two approaches in working with such issues as trauma, addictions, grief, relationship issues, family therapy, and mood issues. Each concern is illustrated using a case study from practice that focuses on individual adults, adolescents, children, or families. Sample client dialogues and forms are included to help the clinician guide clients in practice. SFT has provided therapists with new tools for working with clients who are dealing with substance abuse. The book provides a summary of research findings that have shown the effectiveness of the solution focused approach over the problem-focused approach. The narrative model invites clients to construct a new presentation in a problematic story (narrative) and develop a script for a preferred future (solution focused), with a newly crafted character, instigating new strategies for actions (solution focused), based on exceptions.

This book describes the foundational elements of counseling and psychotherapy with children and adolescents. It includes updates and expanded material about clients’ affect, trauma, substance abuse, progress monitoring, self-care, referral for medication, and mindfulness. Of particular interest is a series of new elements including elements addressing sexual and gender identity, social media, sexuality and harassment, and rules for use of technology. All of these topics have become increasingly important in counselors’ conceptualization of children and adolescent clients and therapy. The book emphasizes the conditions and processes of creating growth within the child, explicating the process of assisting growth and self-inquiry. There are new sections on grounding feelings in the body, teaching tools for distress tolerance, and highlighting the importance of progress monitoring. The book discusses teaching skills for negotiating social conflict—a substantial stressor for children and adolescents. It provides guidance on cocreating individual and family rules for use of technology. It also addresses frequent misconceptions and mistaken assumptions followed by the discussion on crisis intervention, effective referral skills, cultural competency and mandated reporting. The book then addresses issues such as coming to terms with one’s own childhood and adolescence and the rescue fantasy. There is a succinct introduction to interventions (i.e., including a list of more comprehensive texts on counseling with children and adolescents) and an updated review of techniques often used in work with children and adolescents (e.g., play therapy, brief, solution-focused therapy). For ease of reading the word caregiver will be used to indicate a parent, legal guardian, foster parent, and so on. The book focuses on counselor self-care and provides guidance for setting boundaries, knowing their edge, practicing within competency, and assessing and planning personal self-care. Finally, it closes with a brief overview of how to use the text for transcript analysis in training programs.

This book serves as a clinical reference for all those encountering young and adult children of substance-abusing parents regardless of the setting. The book is divided into four parts. Part I provides an overview of the existing state of knowledge regarding children of substance-abusing parents and examines the developmental effects of alcohol and other drugs on children and implications for practice. Mentalization-based treatment holds the promise of providing a way to prevent and ameliorate emotional disturbance in children and adolescents. The chapters in Part II explore treatment issues across the life span of children of parents addicted to alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs, beginning with the prenatal impact through the stages of childhood, adolescence and adulthood. The emphasis is on those individuals who need treatment in a clinical setting. One of the chapters in Part III describes a variety of school-based and residential treatment programs aimed at adolescent children of substance-abusing parents, youngsters who are often at great risk to become the next generation of substance-abusing parents. Another discusses the treatment programs for the large, often overlooked, population of college students with substance-abusing parents. The last chapter in this section focuses on the programs for the growing number of children with substance-abusing incarcerated parents. The final section of this book includes four real-life personal accounts of individuals who grew up in substance-abusing families. Their descriptions of their early traumatic lives spent in an environment of domestic violence, shame and chaos reflect both the pain experienced by children of all ages as well as the resilience that is found in many such children.

The field of counseling is an exciting and challenging career choice. It is a profession that has a prolific history of enabling person-centered counseling approaches for individuals, couples, partners, and families, and facilitates therapeutic services for children, adolescents, adults, and older adults. This book offers an excellent resource for graduate-level coursework that relates to an orientation to the counseling profession, professional issues, and special topic seminars, as well as other counseling-related coursework. It provides both contemporary insight and practical strategies for working with the complexity of real-life issues related to assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of diverse clients and their families. The book provides professionals with chapters organized into the 10 CACREP and CORE content areas that address the awareness, knowledge, and skills required to work with children, adolescents, individuals, groups, couples, families, and persons from diverse cultural backgrounds. The content areas are: professional counseling identity, ethical and practice management issues, case management and consultation issues, multicultural counseling awareness, counseling theories and techniques, career counseling and human growth, assessment and diagnosis, counseling couples, families, and groups, counseling specific populations, and contemporary issues in counseling.

Play is central in the development of the child's identity and the process of self-definition. In the safety of the parent—child relationship, play emerges as a powerful self-shaping force. Through play, infants and children begin to experience others, supporting the brain in its transformation into a social structure. This book marks an important historic moment in recognition of therapeutic and intentional play as a crucial and essential component that is interwoven within the eight phases of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy with children. The play themes of traumatized children are full of cognitive, emotional, somatic, and behavioral elements that are reminiscent of the traumatic events they experienced as well as the legacy of what these experiences did to their neurobiological systems. The book offers enormous alternatives and ingenious ways of using the playroom to provide a fertile ground where the child can play out explicit material as well as implicit urges. It integrates EMDR and play therapy to create a powerful method for treating children suffering from trauma. It also includes contributions from dually credentialled EMDR clinicians and registered play therapists, art therapists, and sand tray practitioners. The book offers a fully integrated approach to EMDR and play therapy faithful to the eight phases of standard EMDR protocol and play therapy principles. It includes a chapter on culturally sensitive EMDR and play using Latinx culture as the lens describes how traditional play therapy creates an emotionally safe space for trauma work for children. The book provides hands-on play therapy interventions for each EMDR phase in quick reference format and delivers multiple interventions with rationale, step-by-step directions, materials required, case examples, and visual aids.

This book discusses the roles of counselors in family court and provides step-by-step guidelines on how to expand one’s counseling practice to include family forensic services. It describes how to enter the field, build a successful practice, and how to work effectively with attorneys and judges as well as parents and children. The book provides specific guidelines and examples of how to communicate effectively with attorneys, conduct interviews with parents and children, make recommendations for custody and visitation, write reports, and successfully testify in court. Content builds on the background and expertise already possessed by the professional counselor, and describes the advantages that counselors have and challenges they must often overcome in successfully practicing in the family law system. Included is a wealth of relevant information about the court system, definitions of legal terms, standards of practice required by the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC), training and licensing requirements for evaluators and mediators, scope of practice, and ethical concerns. The book also includes forms for taking interview notes, templates for writing reports, examples of actual reports, sample visitation schedules, and case studies.