Main description:

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.

Contents:

1. Introduction; 2. Creative Problem Solving in Art Therapy: An Overview of Benefits to Promote Resilience; 3. Art as Communication for Young People; Part I Disruptions in Early Individual Development; 4. "My Passed!!!": A Case Study in the Efficacy of Art Therapy with Adolescents with Complex Trauma and Attachment Disruptions; 5. Promoting Resilience Through Attachment in Early Childhood Art Therapy Intervention; 6. The Mind, the Body, and the Creative Process: Embodied Representations in Art Therapy; 7. Building a Therapeutic Relationship with Children who Have Severe and Multiple Disabilities; 8. On Becoming Whole: Paul's Journey Through Heart Transplant; 9. Strength-Based Art Therapy With Adolescent Psychiatric Patients; 10. DASH (c)-Draw a SuperHero: The Role and Significance of the Superhero in the Art of Children With Trauma; 11. Finding Safe Places in "Jars": Stamping Containers in Substance Use Treatment; 12. From Black and White to Color: Staying in the Metaphor Alongside Male Adolescents With Problematic Sexual Behaviors; Part II Disruptions in Family Systems; 13. Cultivating Resilience Through Creative Altruism with Institutionalized Youth in Foster Care; 14. Effects of Art Therapy on Identity and Self-Esteem in Adolescents in the Foster Care System; 15. ARTogether: Putting Community at the Center of Family Visits; 16. Drawing to Disclose: Empowering Child Victims and Witnesses in Investigative Interviews; 17. Resilience of Youth Overcoming Divorce-Related Stressors; Part III Consequences of Global and Systemic Stress and Inequalities; 18. Conflict and Displacement: Finding the Space for Creativity; 19. Neither Here nor There: Art Therapy with Unaccompanied Adolescents Seeking Asylum in the US; 20. Making Artistic Noise: Amplifying the Voices of Court-Involved Youth; 21. Fighting Isolation and Celebrating Gender Diversity: Art Therapy With Transgender and Gender Expansive Youth; 22. School-Based Art Therapy: Filling the Void; 23. A Journey of Hope: Art Therapy with an Unaccompanied Minor; 24. Art Therapy with Bereaved Youth; 25. Learning from Mistakes in Adolescent Art Therapy