Creative Play Therapy with Adolescents and Adults: Moving from Helping to Healing

This practical, user-friendly manual shows mental health professionals how to implement play therapy with adolescents and adults and how to conceptualise client struggles using a wealth of creative approaches.

Creative Play Therapy with Adolescents and Adults follows an accessible seven-stage process for professionals to address clients’ core needs and establish an empathic therapeutic relationship. The book charts the stages of play therapy and explores a range of expressive arts including art, drama, dance, writing and sand play and the key materials needed for each. It also considers additional aspects of play therapy including resistance, spirituality and self-care. Filled with techniques, skills and case studies to help demystify complex client work, the book outlines an easy-to-follow treatment protocol for healing and resolution.

This book will be of interest to a wide range of mental health professionals working with adults and adolescents as it encourages a more creative career and lasting, tangible progress in clients.

• Helps professionals identify core issues underlying client distress to aid in healing of emotional wounds.
• Includes strategies for moving past dependence on verbal expression and into non-verbal expression with clients Provides practical, tangible, step-by-step guide for incorporating creativity into adolescent and adult client work

Table of Contents

Part I.

1. What is Creative Play Therapy?
2. What Materials Are Needed for Creative Play Therapy?
3. Why Is Talking Only Part of the Process?
4. What Are Core Needs?
5. How Does Understanding Development Grow Empathy?

Part II.

6. Warm Up

7. Creation

8. Emotional Expression

9. Somatic Expression

10. Meaning Making

11. Healing

12. Ending

Part III.

13. Reevaluating Resistance

14. Exploring Spirituality

15. Creative Play Therapy and Self-Care