Dramatherapy and Family Therapy in Education

Acknowledgements. Foreword by Sue Jennings. 1. First Piece. Introduction. 2. Second Piece. A Dramatherapy Approach. 3. Third Piece. A Family Therapy Approach. 4. Fourth Piece. A Multi-Agency Team in Practice. 5. Fifth Piece. Joint Working. 6. The Whole Picture. Conclusion. References. Afterwordby Annie Tempest.

The book is written with professionals that work in multi-agency teams in mind... Both authors are trained therapists... Each author outlines their qualifications and experiences, giving explanations of the models and techniques used. The initial focus is on dramatherapy, describing who it is for, the history of dramatherapy, how it works and the skills necessary to implement this sort of therapy... Case studies are used to outline theoretical perspectives, psychological models and to illustrate techniques in context. Following on from this approach the Family Therapy models are discussed... The key skills and therapeutic principles used by the therapists would reflect skills developed and practised as part of the doctoral training for Educational Psychologists. The book would also be relevant to other therapists that work within schools and schools considering the use of these approaches within schools in an age of commissioning. The book illustrates how these therapeutic approaches can feed into and enlighten the process of understanding the world of the child, family functioning and the environments in which they function. Overall, I would advocate the reading of this book as a clear overview of the approaches used in dramatherapy and family therapy. The simplicity of the book structure makes the book easy for busy professionals to 'dip in and out of'. The case studies provide a context to see how these therapeutic approaches could be useful and valid in real-life situations.