Working with Kids and Their Parents Mitchell Greene Sports, even at the youngest developmental levels, has become a source of great stress for kids and their parents. The final results of games and kids’ individual statistics are immediately broadcast on the internet, and recruiting videos of middle school age athletes are all over YouTube. RecreationRead More…
A Fun, Pragmatic Approach to Mindfulness Susan Kaiser Greenland While mindfulness has become a buzzword in clinics, schools, and boardrooms, many people have a hard time incorporating it into their lives. Fortunately, you can make mindfulness more accessible by using games—simple enough to share with children—to coach clients in the themes, methods, and life skillsRead More…
An Introduction to Attachment-Based Family Therapy Guy Diamond Most of us have faced intense parent-adolescent conflict in sessions: no one listens, everyone blames, and some walk out. Or we’ve met adolescents who are silent, withdrawn, and indifferent. Often these teens struggle with trauma, depression, and/or suicide. This workshop will demonstrate how in the first sessionRead More…
Strategies for Recognizing and Responding to Them Signe Whitson Young people who bully often master the art of blending in with the crowd, flying under an adult’s radar and wreaking havoc in subtle ways. In fact, many socially aggressive kids actually top an adult’s “what a nice kid!” list and make their way into their victims’Read More…
Is It Gender . . . And/Or Something Else? Margaret Nichols & Laura Jacobs Transgender identity has achieved so much cultural support and affirmation that it may be easy to overlook—or miss—the fact that some young clients may be struggling with issues other than, or in addition to, gender dysphoria. With many of these childrenRead More…
It’s a Family Affair Lynn Lyons When obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) shows up in a child, it’s likely that other family members have it, too. OCD is the ultimate cult leader, demanding acceptance of a skewed view of reality and often ruling families for generations. This workshop demonstrates how to recognize OCD, the common pitfallsRead More…
A Practical Approach Christopher Willard For too many children or teens, talk and even play therapy feels unhelpful at best, and stigmatizing at worst. But when we can effectively introduce mindfulness into our sessions, we empower kids to transform themselves, allowing them to identify and regulate their emotions and attention with fun and effective exercises.Read More…
Understanding Sensory Processing and Sensory Strategies in Treatment Tara Delaney More than 90 percent of children diagnosed with autism suffer from sensory processing difficulties that underlie their extreme, reactive behaviors. But typically, even in therapy, there’s not enough attention paid to these difficulties play in the academic struggles, behavioral problems, and coordination challenges that theseRead More…
Succeeding with Our Most Reluctant Clients Janet Sasson Edgette Most teens are only in therapy because their parents, their teachers, the juvenile court judge, or some other authority has told them they must see a therapist—or else. Consequently, they often find standard therapeutic bromides and shrink-wrapped attempts to “engage” them artificial, even infuriating. This workshopRead More…
A Family Approach Jean Malpas Therapists working with the families of transgender and gender-expansive youth (TGEY) are facing questions for which there are no easy answers. What’s the best way to respond when parents of a transgender teenager refuse to give access to hormone therapy? Or when the parents of an 8-year-old gender nonconforming childRead More…
Strategies for Surviving and Thriving Patricia Papernow Stepfamilies begin with such high hopes, but all too often they find themselves stuck in toxic cycles of tension and conflict. Although 42 percent of Americans have a close stepfamily relationship, few therapists ever receive solid training in helping their clients in stepfamilies to meet their intense challenges.Read More…
Changing the Family Dance Lynn Lyons Anxiety can be a very persistent master. When it moves into families, it takes over daily routines, schoolwork, and recreation. To make matters worse, the things adults (including many therapists and school staff) do to help anxious children can actually make the anxiety stronger. Fortunately, research shows that what weRead More…
How Therapists Can Help Parts 1 & 2 Phyllis Booth & Dafna Lender Unlike teens, young children can’t readily talk about feelings, don’t sit in one place, and often can’t follow rules and directions, even when you’re playing a game. So how can you incorporate these crucial family members into your sessions in a wayRead More…
New Perspectives on Gender Diversity Parts 1 & 2 Margaret Nichols & Laura Jacobs Transgender and gender-expansive people are more visible today than they were in the past, and there’s been a corresponding acceptance of gender diversity as normal and varying along a continuum. Indeed, you’ve probably seen or heard of clients who describe themselvesRead More…
