This easy-to-use workbook filled with ideas and activities is essential for therapists, counselors and mental health professionals for starting, developing and sustaining strong therapeutic relationships with children. Focussing on creating a partnership in the therapy room, chapters include practical guidance on the difference between relationship building between adults and children, adapting activities to a variety of settings and starting the relationship. Resolve a variety of challenges in the therapeutic relationship faced by those working with children and families such as, anger, anxiety, reticence, problems with separation and change and saying goodbye. Introducing creativity into the work, these exercises will integrate seamlessly into your practice every day.

Newly qualified art therapists often feel daunted by the challenge of actually being face-to-face with a client and are unsure how to progress after the first image has been created. In this honest and encouraging book, Deborah Schroder explains how art can provide openings into therapeutic relationships and create a safe space for exploring issues and concerns. Drawing on her own development as an art therapist and her extensive experience of supervising new therapists and students, Schroder provides practical advice on encouraging nervous or reluctant clients, or those unfamiliar with art therapy, to benefit from artmaking. She argues for a two-way sharing of art between therapist and client, exploring not only how specific techniques can be put into practice, but also how they benefit the therapeutic relationship. Providing guidance on moving into deeper work, exploring and containing particular emotions, and bringing the therapeutic relationship to a close, this book is invaluable to new art therapists at all stages of their relationships with clients.