Counseling Skills in Action with Children, Adolescents, and Adults

Acquiring knowledge and skills in play and expressive art-based therapies is essential to psychotherapists who work with children, adolescents, and adults. Experiential activities in therapy assist the organization and capabilities of the developing and changing brain (Perry et al., 1995, 2000; Schore, 1997). Clients across the lifespan often present in therapy with potentially chaotic, violent and/or cognitively and emotionally impoverished past experiences. Others come to therapy with transitional or developmental concerns. This chapter addresses the principles of play and creative therapies and the skills associated with working with these approaches from a neurodevelopmental point of view. The chapter will also address special considerations when one is examining the developing brain across three broad age bands, including children under 12, adolescents aged 13-18 years, and adults.