Play Therapy with Families: A Collaborative Approach to Healing

(Paperback)

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Play Therapy and Families: A Collaborative Approach to Healing provides a thorough description of play from prominent academics, researchers, and relevant writers who review it historically. It contains a unique approach for helping families, outlining an in-depth review of play and its relevancy to healing for children and families, putting forth a brand new Collaborative Play Therapy Model. The application to healing and psychotherapy follows, outlining the directive and non-directive orientations to healing, models that are current in the literature, and selected family-based play therapy models. An extensive overview of family therapy and associated models is presented as a foundation for the reader in order to relate play and family therapy from an academic point of view. This provides the theoretical background for the chapters on play therapy approaches that follow. Family play therapy addresses the inclusion of the family with techniques that contribute to healing. Narrative play therapy is presented with an in depth historical account and the phases of the narrative approach. Filial and theraplay models of play therapy are presented with an account of their development and focus on the phases of intervention for children and families. The book concludes with a sandtray approach to working with adoptive families, rounding out this collections presentation of current and researched models of play therapy.

Reviews

Nancy Riedel Bowers's edited text brings together an interesting combination of authors around the central theme of the relationship between play and family life. Starting with an overview of the many faces of the family throughout the world, the book explores the way in which play can act as a therapeutic agent when things go wrong. Two classic models, theraplay and filial play, are explored alongside the introduction of collaborative play therapy. This new approach combines genograms, timelines, and ecomaps with all that is creative in a child's life to activate our natural healing potential. This book will stimulate and challenge the reader in equal measure. -- Fraser Brown, PhD, Leeds Metropolitan University
Play Therapy with Families: A Collaborative Approach to Healing is lucid and fascinating. The contributors to this book write with clarity and vividness. This volume not only benefits professionals, but also parents and communities. -- Wood C. W. Woo, MASW, family therapy, Hong Kong

Author Bio

Nancy Riedel Bowers, RSW, Rpt-S, PhD, holds positions within the seminary and faculty of social work at Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, in Ontario, Canada. Nancy holds the position of APT-continuing education provider and is a registered supervisor with APT and CACPT.