Psychosocial Group Work with Vulnerable Children

Book excerpt: 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.