Group Counseling and Psychotherapy With Children and Adolescents

Book excerpt: Many children and adolescents face developmental or situational difficulties in areas where they live most of their meaningful experiences-at home, at school, and in the community. While adults who struggle with life events and stressors may look to professional help, young individuals are quite alone in coping with these situations. Perhaps unsurprisingly, most children and adolescents typically do not seek such help, and often resist it when offered. Author Zipora Shechtman has written this detailed text advocating group counseling and psychotherapy as a viable means of addressing these issues if we are to ensure the psychological wellness of children in society. Group Counseling and Psychotherapy With Children and Adolescents is arranged in four parts. Its chapters explore topics including: *who needs group counseling and psychotherapy; *therapeutic factors in children's groups; *activities in the group; *pre-group planning and forming a group; and *how to enhance emotional experiencing and group support. This text is a principal source of information for counseling psychology students, researchers, and practitioners working with young people, in addition to social workers, teachers, and parents.