Recently, there has been growing interest in understanding the benefits of creative therapies for people from all kinds of backgrounds. These therapies are beneficial for reducing anxiety, stress, and depressive symptoms and have the potential to enhance the outcomes of special populations of individuals in vulnerable situations. Further study on the future directions as well as challenges associated with these therapies is required to ensure they are utilized appropriately. Exploring the Benefit of Creative Arts Therapies for Children, Adolescents, and Adults discusses the benefits of creative arts therapies for children, adolescents, and adults. The book also looks individually and collectively at the boon of art therapy, dance therapy, music, and drama therapy for improving outcomes for typically developing individuals and for vulnerable populations. Covering key topics such as dance, anxiety, and trauma, this premier reference source is ideal for therapists, social workers, psychologists, mental health counselors, researchers, scholars, academicians, practitioners, instructors, and students.

Creative Arts-Based Group Therapy with Adolescents provides principles for effective use of different arts-based approaches in adolescent group therapy, grounding these principles in neuroscience and group process practice-based evidence. It includes chapters covering each of the main creative arts therapy modalities—art therapy, bibliotherapy, dance/movement therapy, drama therapy, music therapy, and poetry/expressive writing therapy—written by respected contributors who are expert in the application of these modalities in the context of groups. These methods are uniquely effective for engaging adolescents and addressing many of the developmental, familial, and societal problems that they face. The text offers theory and guiding principle, while also providing a comprehensive resource for group therapists of diverse disciplines who wish to incorporate creative arts-based methods into their practice with teens.

Art Therapy Practices for Resilient Youth highlights the paradigm shift to treating children and adolescents as "at-promise" rather than "at-risk." By utilizing a strength-based model that moves in opposition to pathology, this volume presents a client-allied modality wherein youth are given the opportunity to express emotions that can be difficult to convey using words. Working internationally with diverse groups of young people grappling with various forms of trauma, 30 contributing therapists share their processes, informed by current understandings of neurobiology, attachment theory, and developmental psychology. In addition to guiding principles and real-world examples, also included are practical directives, strategies, and applications. Together, this compilation highlights the promise of healing through the creative arts in the face of oppression.

The contributors draw on their professional experience in school and community settings to describe a wide variety of suitable therapeutic interventions that enable children to deal with experiences of trauma, loss, abuse, and other risk factors that may affect their ability to reach their full academic and personal potentials.

TABLE OF CONTENTS. 1. A short story of art therapy practice in the United States / P. St. John. 2. The theory and practice of Jungian art therapy / H. Mazloomian. 3. The assessment attitude / A. Mills. 4. Individual art therapy with resistant adolescents / S. Boyes. 5. Art therapy within an interdisciplinary framework: working with aphasia and communication science disorders / E. G. Horovitz. 6. The history of play therapy / M. D. Barnes. 7. Theoretical perspectives of play therapy / J. A. Thomas-Acker and S. S. Sloan. 8. Combining play and cognitive interventions in the treatment of attachment disordered children / K. O'Connor. 9. Play therapy assessments / C. E. Myers. 10. Expressive therapies with grieving children / H. R. Glazer. 11. Moving with meaning: the historical progression of dance/movement therapy / L. D. Nemetz. 12. Theoretical perspectives in D/MT: visions for the future / S. C. Koch. 13. The Kestenberg movement profile / S. C. Hastie. 14. Assessment in dance/movement therapy / R. F. Cruz. 15. In-schol dance/movement therapy for traumatized children / R. Kornblum and R. L. Halsten. 16. Meditation and movement therapy for children with traumatic stress reactions / D. A. O'Donnell. 17. The history of music therapy / J. Bradt. 18. Music therapy theoretical approaches / A. M. LaVerdiere. 19. A mosaic of music therapy assessments / E. B. Miller. 20. Empowering women survivors of childhood sexual abuse: a collaborative music therapy - social work approach / S. L. Curtis and G. C. T. Harrison. 21. Music therapy with inner city, at-risk children: from the literal to the symbolic / V. A. Camilleri. 22. Ancient and modern roots of drama therapy / S. Bailey. 23. Drama therapy theoretical perspectives / Y. Silverman. 24. The use of role-play as an assessment instrument / T. Rubenstein. 25. Dramatherapy and refugee youth / Y. Rana. 26. Psychodrama still growing and evolving after all these years / K. Carnabucci. 27. Poetry, the healing pen / M. Alschuler. 28. The therapeutic value of poetry / N. Leedy. 29. Creative connections / M. P. Hand. 30. Ethical delivery of creative therapeutic approaches / K. Larson.

Arts Therapies and The Mental Health of Children and Young People presents innovative research, theory and practice in the arts therapies. The different social, cultural and political contexts and developmental age groups illustrate and underscore the richness and diversity of contemporary arts therapies' creative response to the needs of children and young people in contrasting locations. The book represents an acknowledgement of the high rates of mental disorders in children and young people and addresses this subject. In presenting an array of responses from arts therapists working with children and young people in different contexts and countries, the book highlights the particular features of distinct art forms, yet also points to the potential dialogue between disciplines. Chapters show how the expressive potential and appeal of the arts, when facilitated within the therapeutic relationship, are crucial in fostering hope in the future and the capacity for trust in self and others. This book will be of great interest to arts therapists as well as academics and postgraduate students in the fields of arts therapies, social work, psychotherapy, health psychology, and education.

Creative Psychotherapy brings together the expertise of leading authors and clinicians from around the world to synthesise what we understand about how the brain develops, the neurological impact of trauma and the development of play. The authors explain how to use this information to plan developmentally appropriate interventions and guide creative counselling across the lifespan. The book includes a theoretical rationale for various creative media associated with particular stages of neural development, and examines how creative approaches can be used with all client groups suffering from trauma. Using case studies and exemplar intervention plans, the book presents ways in which creative activities can be used sequentially to support healing and development in young children, adolescents and adults. Creative Psychotherapy will be of interest to mental health professionals working with children, adolescents and adults, including play and arts therapists, counsellors, family therapists, psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists and teachers. It will also be a valuable resource for clinically oriented postgraduate students, and therapists who work with victims of interpersonal trauma.