Counseling Children Through the World of Play

About this book

Children in todays world sometimes undergo traumatic experiences such as abuse divorce of parents loss of a loved one school problems. Even trained counselors struggle to find ways to help children process their hurts. This book offers a soundly integrated approach that helps counselors enter the childs world--the world of play--to help them heal. Through play-therapy relationships counselors social workers and other childrens workers can help children say with toys what they have difficulty saying with words. Toys become the play therapists tools to help unlock the healing process for the wounded child. Daniel S. Sweeney Ph.D. L.P.C. M.F.C.C. R.P.T.-S former assistant director of the Center for Play Therapy at the University of North Texas is now an assistant professor of counseling at George Fox University in Portland Oregon. Dr. Sweeney has extensive experience working with children and families in his private practice as well as in the settings of therapeutic foster care community mental health and pastoral counseling. Sweeney has presented workshops on play therapy filial therapy and sandplay at numerous state and national conferences. He has written several articles about play-therapy issues and is the coathor (with Dr. Garry L. Landreth) of Play Therapy Interventions with Childrens Problems. Daniel and his wife Marla have four children and live in Newberg Oregon.