Children and Adolescents in Trauma

Book excerpt: Children and Adolescents in Trauma presents a variety of creative approaches to working with young people in residential children's homes, secure or psychiatric units, and special schools. The contributors describe a wide range of approaches, including art therapy and literature, and how creative methods are applied in cases of abuse, trauma, violence, self-harm and identity development. They discuss the impact of abuse and mistreatment upon the mental health of 'looked after' children, drawing links between psychoanalytic theory and practice and the study of literature and the arts. This indispensable book provides useful insights and a fresh perspective for anyone working with traumatised children and adolescents, including social workers, psychotherapists, arts therapists, psychiatrists, counsellors, psychologists and students in these fields.