Mental health professionals and affiliated professionals in schools are seeing more and more adolescents who cut and burn themselves, abuse alcohol and drugs, have eating disorders, or who engage in excessive risk taking. Yet the literature on this behavior remains scant. Matthew Selekman provides readers with a comprehensive, highly practical approach to working with this challenging group of clients. Working with Self-Harming Adolescents offers readers effective guidelines for how parents can prevent and constructively manage self-harming episodes, discusses the major aggravating factors...

In this engaging guide, Matthew Selekman presents cutting-edge strategies for helping children and their families overcome a wide range of emotional and behavioral challenges. Vivid case material illustrates how to engage clients rapidly and implement interventions that elicit their strengths. Integrating concepts and tools from a variety of therapeutic traditions, Selekman describes creative applications of interviewing, family art and play, postmodern and narrative techniques, and positive psychology. He highlights ways to promote spontaneity, fun, and new possibilities--especially with...

In this one volume self-harm, substance abuse, eating-disordered behaviour, gambling, and Internet and cyber sex abuse - five crippling, self-destructive behaviours - are given a common conceptual framework to help with therapeutic intervention. Readers will find useful, hands-on therapeutic strategies and techniques that they can use in both individual and conjoint sessions during couple, family, and one-on-one therapy.

This classic volume, now completely revised, has helped tens of thousands of therapists integrate play therapy and family therapy techniques in clinical practice. Eliana Gil demonstrates a broad range of verbal and nonverbal strategies for engaging all family members--including those who are ambivalent toward therapy--and tailoring interventions for different types of presenting problems. Numerous case examples illustrate ways to effectively use puppets, storytelling, art making, the family play genogram, drama, and other expressive techniques with children, adolescents, and their parents....