Narrative play is a way of communicating with children using imaginative stories and narratives to share and make sense of life events. This book describes using narrative play therapeutically with children who have lived in multiple families, children who have problems with social understanding and children who have learning difficulties. Ann Cattanach explains how children's stories and narratives, whether they are about real or imagined events, can be interpreted as indicators of their experiences, their ideas, and a dimension of who they are. She demonstrates this with examples of children's stories from her clinical experience, and provides narrative play techniques and sample scripts both for therapists and for parents whose circumstances require a therapeutic parenting approach. This book is essential reading for play therapists, social workers and other professionals working with children, as well as parents and carers of children who are experiencing social and/or learning difficulties.

Music provides a unique and powerful means of promoting communication and social interaction in students with learning difficulties. In this collection, Pat Lloyd brings together 46 songs composed or adapted for use with children with communication problems. Each of the songs features a vocal line and piano accompaniment and can be listened to on the audio CD included with the book. Simplified guitar versions are also provided for a selection of the songs. Pat Lloyd provides suggestions for how each song can be used and developed to encourage communication and social interaction, and lists a range of possible objectives for each one. Advocating a flexible approach, she demonstrates how musical activity can be adapted easily and successfully to the specific needs of individual students. Enjoyable and easy to use, this is an ideal resource for specialist and non-specialist music instructors working to improve the communication and social skills of students with learning difficulties, including those with additional autism.

`This is an important and topical book coming at a time when there is growing pressure to show evidence of good practice, in order to reassure the prospective client, and to demonstrate financial accountability. It gives valuable guidelines and examples for art therapists. The book is innovative and inspiring, and the author's enthusiasm shines through. I end with the last line of this topical, readable, relevant book - one that encapsulates its content: 'We need the facts, we need the figures, but we need the stories and the pictures, too' - Therapy Today `This book makes a major contribution to the field of art therapy by reviewing, in an accessible and informed manner, the issues around the development of research-informed practice. The author offers an overview of different traditions of inquiry that will be of value to practitioners as well as those actually involved in carrying out research' - John McLeod, Tayside Institute for Health Studies, University of Abertay Dundee `This impressive book is lively, inspiring and innovative. Andrea Gilroy's energetic enthusiasm for her subject is infectious. She breathes life into the topics of research and EBP. This rich exploration combines a rigorous investigation of the existing literature with intelligent, original and practical suggestions. A thorough, informative approach that challenges existing thinking. This is a must for art therapists - at last a book that places art at the centre of our evidence in a convincingly argued, accessible and rewarding read' - Professor Joy Schaverien PhD Art Therapy around the world is under increasing pressure to become more "evidence-based". As a result, practitioners now need to get to grips with what constitutes "evidence", how to apply research in appropriate ways and also how to contribute to the body of evidence through their own research and other related activities. Written specifically for art therapy practitioners and students, Art Therapy, Research & Evidence Based Practice: " traces the background to EBP " critically reviews the existing art therapy research " explains the research process " links research with the development of clinical guidelines, and " describes the knowledge and skills needed to demonstrate efficacy. Drawing on her own experience as a researcher, practitioner and lecturer, Andrea Gilroy looks at the implications of EBP for art therapy and examines common concerns about the threat it may pose to the future provision of art therapy within public services. Art Therapy, Research Evidence-Based Practice addresses issues which are critical to the future development and even the survival of art therapy. Combining insightful analysis with practical guidance and examples, this is an ideal resource for practitioners and for those in training. Andrea Gilroy is Reader in Art Psychotherapy at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Many aspects of drama therapy make it an ideal technique to use with students with special learning needs. This practical resource book for professionals covers the broad spectrum of students attending special needs schools, including those with attention deficit disorder, autism and Asperger syndrome, and students with multiple disabilities. Paula Crimmens places therapeutic storymaking within the context of drama therapy and offers practical advice on how to structure and set up sessions to be compatible with special needs learning environments. She shows how story sessions can address issues of self-esteem and self-mastery, and how their use in groups is invaluable for building social and communication skills. The book includes traditional stories from around the world as session material, and includes guidance on how to devise stories relevant to older students, as well as a review of recent research into the effectiveness of drama therapy in engaging and retaining the attention of students with an intellectual disability.

Group Analytic Art Therapy, written by an internationally renowned psychotherapist, provides readers with a practical and theoretical framework for using group art therapy in a range of settings. Based on over 20 years' experience of conducting group art therapy, this book is packed with suggestions for group art therapy practice and many explanatory diagrams. The author also explores the dynamics and psychological effects of diverse group situations, based on examples from his own clinical practice, and offers an illuminating insight in to his own theories and practical applications of group art therapy in the context of the developments in the field. Group Analytic Art Therapy is both a comprehensive reference and an inspiring text for practising and trainee art therapists, psychotherapists and group therapists.

The central tenet of this collection of doctoral research studies is that identity can be regarded as a performance, achieved through and in dialogue with others. The authors argue that where neuro-degenerative disease restricts movement, communication and thought processes and impairs the sense of self, music therapy and neurological rehabilitation can help to restore the performance of identity within which clients can recognise themselves. Emphasis is placed on identity as a chosen performance, not one imposed by a pathological process - the individual is not defined by the disease. The authors show that music therapy is an effective intervention in neurological rehabilitation that successfully facilitates communication with those who are deemed uncommunicative and can aid rehabilitation of clients affected by dementia, traumatic brain injury, and multiple sclerosis, among other neuro-generative diseases. Music Therapy and Neurological Rehabilitation is an authoritative and comprehensive text that will be of interest to practicing music therapists, students and academics in the field.

Music therapists from around the world working in conventional and unconventional settings have offered their contributions to this exciting new book, presenting spirited discussion and practical examples of the ways music therapy can reflect and encourage social change. From working with traumatized refugees in Berlin, care-workers and HIV/AIDS orphans in South Africa, to adults with neurological disabilities in south-east England and children in paediatric hospitals in Norway, the contributors present their global perspectives on finding new ways forward in music therapy. Reflecting on traditional approaches in addition to these newer practices, the writers offer fresh perceptions on their identity and role as music therapists, their assumptions and attitudes about how music, people and context interact, the sites and boundaries to their work, and the new possibilities for music therapy in the 21st century. As the first book on the emerging area of Community Music Therapy, this book should be an essential and exciting read for music therapists, specialists and community musicians.

This is the first comprehensive reader in a new area of counselling. It brings together well-known authors on traumatic stress responses and good counselling practice, as well as new material specifically written in order to fill gaps in current published sources. The authors cover an extensive range of methods for helping people, including videotaping, brief group counselling, expressive art, and information on helping the helpers.

Music Therapy is an introduction to contemporary training and practice. Written in a clear, jargon-free style, the book provides a lively source of information and ideas for all who are new to music therapy.

Written by highly experienced practitioners, the book examines improvisation, the principal method for music therapy, and points to the underlying assumptions about music, which shape this way of working. Two of the main music therapy approaches - Analytic Music Therapy and Nordoff- Robbins Music Therapy - are also outlined.

Drawing on their own experience, the authors examine a range of clinical situations and give examples of working with children and adults with a range of needs, including autism, learning disabilities and mental health problems. They highlight the many issues, which arise from day-to-day practice and explore other aspects of professional life, such as personal therapy and supervision.

This book brings together the professional experiences of eminent analytical music therapists from Europe and the USA. The book examines the origins and theory of AMT (including a contribution on the subject from Mary Priestley), before exploring its uses in various contexts. Chapters cover AMT in counselling and rehabilitation, with adults and children and with nonverbal clients. A concluding section discusses aspects of the training of music therapy students. Written by experienced and highly regarded analytic music therapists, and edited by Johannes Th. Eschen, one of the first ever AMT students, this book will be of interest to practitioners in many branches of music therapy and related disciplines.

This fascinating and illuminating study brings together a wealth of information gained from individuals who reveal how music has had an effect on their lives. It unveils how music plays an important part in counselling and therapy and links the disciplines of the philosophy of music to neuroscience, developmental psychology and psychoanalysis. Psychotherapists, counsellors and therapists will find this book thought-provoking and invaluable reading; as well as doctors, nurses and those working with the elderly and people with developmental difficulties. All those with an interest in music and how it can affect their lives will also find this book interesting reading.

This work brings together the experiences of practitioners who use group music therapy with diverse client groups in various settings. Chapters discuss work with children, adolescents, and adults of all ages, shiwing the wide range of applications for group music therapy: in assessment for clinical diagnosis; in work with clients who have learning disabilities, special educational needs, eating disorders or autistic spectrum disorders; and in neurological rehabilitation. Group music therapy is examined from different theoretical perspectives - including psychoanalytic and Foulkesian approaches - and in conjunction with art therapy.

Offering practical advice for arts therapists and health care professionals, this book emphasizes the importance of putting the individual before the illness to provide holistic, person-centred support for people with dementia. The contributors are all practising healing arts therapists who show how music, dance and the visual arts can be used in partnership with person-centred care to promote improved memory, reduced anxiety, increased self-esteem, better communication and successful group interaction. They use case studies to demonstrate the ways in which therapists can encourage engagement of those with dementia with sound, touch, movement and visual forms, making this a positive and practical book for all those working to provide person-centred dementia

Based on a study conducted with chronically ill children, Pediatric Dramatherapy: They Couldn't Run So They Learned To Fly shows how children who are unable to verbalize their feelings or inner conflicts can do so through dramatherapy. The major sources of stress for chronically ill children are examined as they relate to situations within selected stories. Through detailed case studies, commentaries and analysis this groundbreaking book demonstrates a connection between the child's symbolic expression and the struggle with illness. The use of puppets, masks, make-up and costume accessories enhances the children's ability for self expression. This fascinating study will be a significant resource for all those working with traumatized children as well as an important contribution to the emerging field of arts medicine.

* Are you about to write a dissertation for an MA in an arts therapy? * Is your workplace pressuring you to do research on your practice? * Do you fancy trying your hand at a bit of research without any pressure from anyone? * Are you bewitched, bothered and bewildered? A mystique about research usually comes from reading a) writers who launch into philosophical dialectics about research and avoid the basics; b) poorly written research papers full of undecipherable formulae; and c) smug, unfriendly research texts. This book begins at the beginning. Ansdell and Pavlicevic hold your hand and give you plenty of hints and tips while you prepare your funding proposal or research project. They help you think about your title, structure your research questions and aims, and prepare to collect, organize and analyze your research data. Moreover, you're not alone! Franz and Suzie have their own projects which you're invited to follow with opportunities to learn about the nitty-gritty of tables, pie-charts, data transcription, data presentation - and supervisors who toss off clever, useless bits of advice. `Beginning Research in the Arts Therapies' puts the zap into arts therapies research, making it fun and serious, exasperating and utterly absorbing. Miss this book and you'll deprive yourself of a sympathetic ear, firm advice and a sensible and imaginative combustion of theory, debate and determination. `Beginning Research in the Arts Therapies' is recommended to all arts therapies practitioners: students, researchers, and those clinicians who simply want to `keep up' with research literature without `doing it for themselves'.

Based on 17 years of clinical work in both the United States and the United Kingdom, this book presents a comprehensive discussion on the use of art in counselling sexually abused children, their families, and both adult and adolescent sex offenders. Using concepts of the "trauma model" and other current theoretical models that have been shown to be effective, and drawing on case examples from her own clinical experience, Maralynn Hagood demonstrates how art therapy, counselling and psychotherapy can be blended, and tailored to the needs of the individual. She emphasises the dangers of interpreting artwork in diagnosis, arguing that it is the process of art-making which has therapeutic value.

June Boyce-Tillman's new book identifies and discusses the very issues that could render the education that we offer through music more engaging and relevent to those whom we teach. The book presents a wide-ranging and rich mix of psychological, ethnomusicological, philosophical, educational, mythological and theological material. Into this rich tapestry is woven a concern to consider seriously New Age phenomena and to empathize with people's experiences and life stories. Very occasionally, a book is published that has the potential of seriously challenging current orthodoxy and practice. This is such a book.' - British Journal of Music Education. 'June Boyce-Tillman has published this beautifully researched essay at what I think may prove to be a vital re-balancing point in our history, when there is a developing realisation that post-Enlightenment culture with its emphasis on scientific reason and logic needs to incorporate again the "subjugated ways of knowing" as June Boyce-Tillman terms Gooch's value "system B" which favours being, subjectivity, personal feeling, emotion, magic, involvement, associative ways of knowing, belief and non-causal knowledge... The bibliography and referencing are excellent, massively extending the hub of resource which this book itself presents for further study, investigation and good practice by people from many walks of life. Many thanks to June Boyce-Tillman for her work.' - The Christian Parapsychologist 'In Constructing Musical Healing, June Boyce-Tillman attempts to blend ancient and modern ideas and practices with her own perspective as a New Age practitioner. In an interdisciplinary effort, Boyce-Tillman describer particular philosophical aspects concerning Western music, practices of shamans and healers, and explorations of the new consciousness reflected in the New Age movement and music therapy. Her goal is to establish a new model of healing as balance including physical, psychological, and spiritual elements in a process approach, which she parallels with music therapy practice...Boyce-Tillman has some promising ideas. And certainly she adds her words, her thoughts, and beliefs to the continuing questions about the compatibility between "healing" and "therapy"...The strength of the book is that it has the potential to encourage our own discourse by giving us an opportunity to compare and contrast our own ideas about music therapy with at least one New Age practitioner.' - The Arts in Psychotherapy Drawing on literature from philosophy, anthropology, psychology and musicology, Boyce-Tillman looks at musical traditions and notions of healing in different societies. Her work includes a number of case studies in various cultures - spirit possession cults in Africa and shamans in various traditions. It explores contemporary musical practice in the New Age including neo-shamanism and notions of musical healing in Western musical aesthetics. The use of music in Western medicine is also studied, as Boyce-Tillman draws together a theory of what actually occurs when music is associated with therapeutic intention and examines the role of music within healthcare, education and the community.

Supervisors who wish to employ a more imaginative approach to their work will find concepts such as 'aesthetic distancing' and techniques derived from dramatherapy - the use of myths and stories, dramatic play and roles - particularly useful. Supervision and Dramatherapy explores the ways in which dramatherapy techniques and concepts can be applied to supervision, and looks at how supervisions are conducted within the field of dramatherapy. The contributors, leading dramatherapists from Britain, Continental Europe, the United States and Israel, have written on the historical background of supervion in dramatherapy, the process of dramatherapy supervision, the training of supervisor-dramatherapists, taking a dramatherapy approach to business supervisions, the supervision of crisis intervention teams and dramatherapy research. They offer insights into the relationships between supervisor, supervisee and client, and the dramatic roles that unfold during the supervision process. Drawing on their own experiences in clinical and non-clinical settings, and richly illustrating their accounts with examples from practice, they offer exciting and creative ways of effectively supervising dramatherapists and non-dramatherapists alike.

In the therapeutic workplace, the interaction between patient and therapist is built upon cognitive, affective and expressive experiences. This book explores the concept of therapeutic presence, and the therapist's ability to maintain it. The theory integrates a creative framework that synthesizes traditional and non-traditional approaches to treatment, and will be of use to all mental health professionals. Since therapeutic presence calls for an openness and awareness of the intersubjective space between therapist and patient, therapists, who become receptive to the subtle cues of sensory perceptual communication, as well as to the playful, mirroring, and meditative interaction, will find more successful and meaningful interactions with patients.

Therapeutic presence requires a sensitivity to the concepts of centering and grounding, embodies the spatial and temporal characteristics of the therapeutic frame, and an experience of energy that may open, shut down, or disrupt the field of therapeutic contact. This stance can be applied to therapeutic modalities ranging from psychoanalysis to creative arts therapy, in work with both short and long term populations. The author suggests that the full use of the therapist's creative nergies may provide the only solution to overwhelming therapeutic situations.

Based on Paul Newham's experience as a voice and movement therapist and on his work running the only professional training course in the psychotherapeutic use of singing currently accredited by the RSA, this book explores both the theory and practice behind the use of voice and singing in expressive arts therapy. Each chapter of the book takes a specific area within which the therapeutic use of voice and singing has been explored and offers a comprehensive history of its development, covering subjects which include infant development, psychoanalysis, analytical psychology, the arts therapies, avant garde theatre and spiritual healing. From this extensive appraisal, the author draws together strands from various disciplines and creates from them a coherent system of Therapeutic Voicework. The presentation of this methodology is woven into each chapter through the description of exercises and case studies. This book will make informative and valuable reading for all those interested in the use of Voicework as a distinct therapeutic process or in combination with drama, movement and music.

A study examining the underlying theatrical underpinning of dramatherapy, which is firmly based on an understanding of processes which are fundamentally theatrical: imagination, identification and catharsis. The text approaches the subject systematically, arguing that the hidden psychological mechanisms which make theatre work are the same as those that operate in dramatherapy. The authors assert that it is the theatricality of dramatherapy which makes it healing.

In this work, child therapist, Clark Moustakas, demonstrates how play can be used to free children to express their tensions, conflicts and frustrations. Moustakas offers examples of children who suddenly became disturbed in their family or school life and tells how these children work out their fear and anger in just a few sessions. He also describes helping seriously disturbed children in their struggles to achieve emotional maturity, faith in themselves and respect for others. This book is aimed at anyone who works with children or their parents and includes an important chapter on preventive play therapy, which can be adapted to defuse school situations before they get out of hand.

The first book to make literature accessible to people with learning disabilities, Odyssey Now is a dramatisation of the story of Odysseus through a variety of interactive games for developing communication skills and as a means of implementing a multi-sensory approach. It is designed particularly to include people who have profound, severe or multiple learning disabilites, but it can be used or adapted for any group of adults and children who have communication problems. Suitable for use in schools, colleges, social education centres or the home, it can also be used in mixed ability groups and to promote integration between groups with special needs and non-disabled people. Each interactive game includes: suggestions for suitable music, pictures, colours and other resources to accompany the game a storyline guidelines for staff members a summary of the purpose of the game suggestions for adapting the game for people with visual impairments. Included with the games are advice on organising such a programme, suggestions for record-keeping and tips for adapting the games.

Deforia Lane shares the healing power of music. Once a budding opera singer, Lane has dedicated her talent to treating hospital patients with music therapy. The results are astonishing. In the presence of Deforia's musical gifts, seriously ill people find new joy and hope. Lane is the first music therapist to receive a grant to study music's therapeutic effects on cancer patients. Thousands of patients have been inspired by her, and her success has spurred hospitals across the nation to launch music therapy programs. 'Music and healing are often matters of the human spirit, ' says Deforia. 'because of the nature of my job, I have witnessed more than a few miracles, miracles worth telling and retelling.' Music as Medicine is a window into Deforia Lane's world of miracles, where the melody of one person's life has brought healing and strength to many

Once upon a time, everything was understood through stories....The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once said that 'if we possess our why of life we can put up with almost any how.'...Stories always dealt with the `why' questions. The answers they gave did not have to be literally true; they only had to satisfy people's curiosity by providing an answer, less for the mind than for the soul. --From Chapter 1 Each of us has a story to tell that is uniquely personal and profoundly meaningful. The goal of the modern therapist is to help clients probe deeply enough to find their own voice, describe their experiences, and create a narrative in which a life story takes shape and makes sense. Emphasizing the vital connections among personal experience, family, and community, the authors of this provocative new book explore the role of narrative therapy within the context of a postmodern culture. They employ the interactional dynamics of family therapy to demonstrate how to help people deconstruct oppressive and debilitating perspectives, replace them with liberating and legitimizing stories, and develop a framework of meaning and direction for more intentional, more fulfilling lives. Blending scientific theory with literary aesthetics, Story Re-Visions presents a comprehensive collection of specific narrative therapy techniques, inventions, interviewing guidelines, and therapeutic questions. The book examines the development of the postmodern phenomenon, tracing its evolution across time and disciplines. It discusses paradigmatic traditions, the meaning of modernism, and the ways in which the ancient, binding narratives have lost their power to inspire uncritical assent. Methods for doing narrative therapy in a destoried world are presented, with suggestions for meeting the challenges of postmodern value systems and ethical dilemmas. Numerous case examples and dialogues illustrate ways to help people become authors of their own stories, and each of the last four chapters concludes with an appendix that provides additional information for the practicing clinician. Detailing ways in which a narrative framework enhances family therapy, the authors describe how the therapist and client may act together as revisionary editors, and present techniques for keeping the story re-vision alive, well, and in charge. Finally, the book examines re-vision techniques for clinical training and supervision settings, with discussion of how therapists may help one another create stories about their clients, as well as themselves. Accessibly written and profoundly enlightening, Story Re-Visions is ideal for family therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, and anyone else interested in doing therapy from a narrative stance. It is also valuable as supplemental reading for courses in family therapy and other psychotherapeutic disciplines.