Helping children and adolescents who have experienced trauma to feel safe and confident enough to talk, let alone engage in therapeutic work, can be full of challenges - for children and for adults. Conversation-Starters For Working with Children and Adolescents After Trauma aims to make this process easier for practitioners, by offering gentle, playful techniques to help children who are closed or withdrawn to start to open up. With over 80 activities tailored to different styles of communication, all requiring minimal preparation, this flexible resource provides an activity for every situation. From helping a child identify fun things around them to helping them to learn how to control unwanted thoughts, or to understand how feeling states can move from darkness to light, you will wish that you had known about these techniques sooner. Simply choose whether you would like to focus on helping a child with a coping or positive thinking activity, gather the everyday tools you need, and you are all set. Each of the activities can be used in both individual and group formats, and case studies throughout the book serve as a helpful guide on how the activities work in practice. This book is the ultimate toolkit for use with children and adolescents aged between 5 and 17. It is ideal for practitioners working with children who have experienced trauma, physical or sexual abuse, or severe neglect. Those working with children who are experiencing acute depression, anxiety and behavioural difficulties will also find it useful.

Many children who have experienced serious trauma are withdrawn and closed off, making it difficult to engage with them in therapy effectively. This book offers a compendium of therapeutic activities that will help children who have endured painful abuse to open up, so that they can learn to express their feelings and therapy can be directed towards their individual needs. From useful techniques for bridging memory gaps to using masks for self-expression, the innovative activities use mindfulness, art and play to help children feel relaxed and responsive. The activities require very little preparation, and use only everyday items that are easy to access and can be used time and time again. Case studies throughout offer a helpful demonstration of how the activities work in practice. This is an ideal resource for use with children in therapeutic, home and school settings. It is appropriate to use with children aged 5-17 who have experienced trauma, physical abuse, sexual abuse, forced migration and severe neglect, as well as those with acute depression, anxiety and behavioural difficulties.