Creative Child Therapy Workshops
Provides practical training and resources for therapists working with children and families
I often look carefully at my household recycling before deciding whether to place it in the recycling bin. It often holds many items that can be re-purposed for craft activities in therapy and is an economical way of providing the child with something they can take home at the end of the session. I’m finding…
We’ve put together our top tips for telehealth therapy with children during COVID 19 and self-isolation. Think about what you usually do and what works for your clients and do that online. As therapists we know what works for the children and families we see and we each have our own styles. Rather than trying…
We are so excited to see our 200th enrolment in our Creative Ways to Help Children Manage Emotions online course recently! We learnt so much along the way as we created the course and it caused us to reflect on how important mistakes are in the process of learning. We thought we’d share some of…
Working with thoughts is a key part of our work as child therapists and it is an important area to reflect on. When working with children we need to ensure that we approach thoughts in a developmentally appropriate way and in a manner that reflects what we want to convey about thoughts. What follows is…
1. Learn about child development Children are not little adults! As child therapists, sometimes our role involves helping parents to understand that their child’s responses and emotions are normal and expected for their developmental stage. Other times, our role involves helping parents to recognise and understand developmental delays or difficulties their child is experiencing. Always,…
As a therapist working with children and adolescents, it is essential that I have hands-on materials to support my young clients in exploring therapeutic concepts and engaging in conversation. Card sets can be one such hands-on resource and can provide a physical and visual prop to scaffold therapeutic conversations. They can also take the pressure…
As a therapist working with children, I’m always on the lookout for new resources and ideas for making therapy fun and engaging for my young clients. Commercial resources can be a great way to keep sessions interesting and to broaden my therapy tools and activities. At one of our recent Creative Child Therapy Workshops, we had some…
Stories are powerful. They can inspire, entertain, reassure, and teach us. In therapy with children, stories can provide a different perspective on a problem, normalise experiences, educate and provide ideas and metaphors to continue to reflect on. Most children are familiar with picture books, so reading a story together can provide a non-threatening and enjoyable context to open…
A therapist recently described using an activity from our book that involves using wool to connect family members to make visible the ways in which their feelings and actions impact upon each other. Following the session the child who was being brought to therapy articulated some of what she had learnt to her Mum. She…
As a student completing my clinical child psychology studies, I would become frustrated at times with what seemed like an endless emphasis on the details of assessment and formulation. I wanted to spend more time talking about interventions and therapy – actually helping people! It is only with hindsight that I fully appreciate the strength and importance…