1st Edition
Psychosocial Group Work with Vulnerable Children Eclectic Group Conductors and Creative Play
Psychosocial Group Work with Vulnerable Children presents a simple, accessible, and preventative approach to psychotherapeutic interventions.
The authors explore how this form of group work can strengthen resilience and prevent an increase in antisocial behavioural tendencies among children. Based on a process of shared meaning communication, the book explains how professionals can help children to engage in in-group creative play and allow them to experience their self in relation to others. Castrechini-Franieck and Bittner draw on their experiences of working with children in groups, supplemented with therapeutic elements from Gestalt therapy and ontological psychoanalysis. This approach helps children to achieve a stable state of emotional well-being while improving their behaviour at school, along with their social skills.
Psychosocial Group Work with Vulnerable Children will be a key reading for psychotherapists and other professionals working with vulnerable children including psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers.
Foreword "Together We Are Strong!" T-WAS
Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Appendix to the introduction
PART ONE
Conceptual source of inspiration
Chapter 1. The interplay between antisocial tendencies and aggression
Chapter 2. The intersection of Gestalt therapy and ontological psychoanalysis
Chapter 3. Running children’s groups in partnership: what does this mean?
PART TWO
Together We Are Strong (T-WAS)
Chapter 4. The challenges behind the scenes
Chapter 5. Eclectic group conductors
Chapter 6. Setting
Chapter 7. Creative play
Chapter 8. Three different children’s groups
Chapter 9. Direct challenges to the eclectic group conductors posed by the children
Chapter 10. Reflections on T-WAS (Together We Are Strong)
Biography
Maria Leticia Castrechini Fernandes Franieck, PhD, is a registered Chartered Counselling Psychologist in the UK, an i.t. Group Analyst with the Seminar für Gruppenanalyse Zürich, and a licensed Psychotherapist and Supervisor in Germany. Working with highly vulnerable populations is central to her clinical practice, and her studies were funded by the International Psychoanalytical Association.
Niko Bittner is a qualified pedagogue and Gestalt therapist, as well as a systemic trainer and coach. He works in youth social work and is a seminar leader at the Odenwald Institute, Germany, where he trains conflict coaches, among other things.
“This book offers genuine clinical engagement in the context of a solid psychoanalytic framework, providing the reader with an accessible model of treatment.” – Paul Williams, psychoanalyst; author, The Fifth Principle Trilogy (Routledge)
“The uniqueness of this book lies in the introduction of a fairly accessible, experiential and preventive approach to group work with vulnerable children. It looks at ways of dealing with aggression by developing object relations with others during ongoing creative play. This approach can be widely adopted by agencies working with vulnerable children worldwide. The authors' focus on the prevention of violence, rather than the treatment of violence, plays a vital role in creating a stable environment for us all.” - Roosevelt Cassorla, Training Analyst of the Brazilian Psychoanalytic Association, Sigourney Award 2017.
