Synopses & Reviews
Review
"This wide-ranging book features postmodern ideas and innovative interviewing methods....The working contexts range from schools, playrooms, offices, and clinics to family homes and group homes. The book is simply full of creative variations in narrative practice! But other methods like the use of drama, art, home support, and the collaborative language systems approach are also included. A gratifying theme throughout is the consistent commitment to honoring and respecting the actual experiences of the young people with whom we work." --Karl Tomm, MD, Professor of Psychiatry, University of Calgary
"In this book readers will find many wonderfully creative expressions of collaborative/narrative approaches to problems experienced in childhood and adolescence. The chapters are framed by a thoughtful and informative introduction that addresses many of the questions that are often asked about the tradition of thought and practice that informs these collaborative/narrative approaches. There is something for everyone in this book." --Michael White, BASW, Dulwich Centre, Adelaide, South Australia
"Smith and Nylund have compiled a collection of hopeful, exciting approaches to working with children that is as diverse as the problems that children and their families bring to therapy. Each chapter is unique, but the approaches are joined together by the spirit of possibility, respect, and collaboration that suffuses them all." --Bill O'Hanlon, MS
Review
"Chock-full of inventive examples of clinical work....[This book] is ground-breaking in being the first narratively informed collection to focus on countering problems that capture adolescents--anorexia, depression, substance misuse and attentional differences among them--and should stand as a landmark contribution in the years to come."--Readings
Synopsis
Bridging a gap between family and play therapy, this book explores a wide range of narrative therapies that respect parents' concerns while also giving voice to the distinctive wisdom and abilities of children and adolescents. Case examples supply practical illustrations of how to work with numerous problems, including sexual abuse, depression, learning disabilities, substance misuse, and alienation from school. Each chapter concludes with a question-answer session that further explains the therapy.
Synopsis
Bringing together an array of renowned, highly creative contributors, this indispensable book demonstrates how narrative and collaborative work with young people can bridge the gap between the seemingly disparate worlds of adults and children--and can foster unique and imaginative solutions to even the most challenging clinical problems. Through transcripts and compelling case examples, contributors illuminate how drama, art, play, and humor can effectively be used to engage children of different ages and to honor their idiosyncratic language, knowledge, and perspectives. Chapters conclude with engaging question-and-answer sessions between the editors and the contributors that further draw out the principles and techniques of each approach.
About the Author
Craig Smith, PhD, is a Marriage, Family, and Child Counselor in private practice at the Solana Beach Counseling Center in San Diego, California. He also teaches at San Diego State University and supervises at various local agencies, in addition to co-leading trainings in dialogic narrative therapy.
David Nylund, MSW, is a clinical social worker at Kaiser Permanente in Stockton, California. He is also a consultant to Midtown Family Therapy, where he offers training in narrative therapy, and a lecturer at the Professional School of Psychology in Sacramento.
Table of Contents
Foreword, Griffith
1. Introduction: Comparing Traditional Therapies with Narrative Approaches, Smith
2. "I am a Bear": Discovering Discoveries, Epston
3. "Catching the Little Fish": Therapy Utilizing Narrative, Drama, and Dramatic Play with Young Children, Barragar-Dunne
4. Narrative Therapy and Family Support: Strengthening the Mother's Voice in Working with Families with Infants and Toddlers, Sax
5. Lists, Freedman and Combs
6. Miserere Nobis: A Choir of Small and Big Voices in Despair, Andersen
7. Destination Grump Station--Getting Off the Grump Bus, Lobovits and Freeman
8. Listening with Your "Heart Ears" and Other Ways Young People Can Escape the Effects of Sexual Abuse, Adams-Westcott and Dobbins
9. From Imposition to Collaboration: Generating Stories of Competence, Stacey
10. Collaborative Conversations with Children: Country Clothes and City Clothes, Anderson and Levin
11. Attention Deficit Disorders: Therapy with a Shoddily Built Construct, Law
12. From "Cold Care" to "Warm Care": Challenging the Discourses of Mothers and Adolescents, Weingarten
13. Re-Considering Memory: Re-Remembering Lost Identities Back toward Re-Membered Selves, Madigan
14. Voices of Political Resistance: Young Women's Co-Research on Anti-Depression, Nylund and Ceske
15. Sex, Drugs, and Postmodern Therapy: A Teen Finds Her Voice, Hicks
16. Re-Authoring Problem Identities: Small Victories with Young Persons Captured by Substance Misuse, Sanders
17. Tales Told Out of School, Berndt, Dickerson, and Zimmerman