Somatic Methods for Affect Regulation: A Clinician’s Guide to Healing Traumatized Youth

Somatic Methods for Affect Regulation is a unique resource that presents a variety of approaches for working somatically with youth. Chapters provide an overview of the relevant neuroscience research with a specific focus on affect regulation. The somatic techniques showcased in the book are evidence-based and illustrated with case studies showing their impact. Importantly, the chapters are also chock full of practical information, including strategies for working with dysregulated youth, information for collaborative and cooperative care, and an appendix with checklists and worksheets to help clinicians plan, guide, and assess their work.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Part I: Theory and Somatic Approaches 1. Brain Development, Trauma, and Affect Regulation 2. Frameworks and Models Part II: Essential Components in Clinical Work with Complexly Traumatized Youth 3. Comprehensive Trauma Assessment 4. Guiding Treatment Principles 5. Working with Systems 6. Misunderstood Children: Diagnostic Dilemmas Part III: Somatic Interventions: Clinical Applications 7. Interactive Regulation 8. Self-Regulation 9. Boundaries, Proximity-Seeking and Avoidant Behaviors 10. Movement and Posture Part IV: Special Populations 11. LGBTQ+ Youth 12. Dissociation in Children and Youth Appendices Reference Index

About the Author :
Kimberley L. Shilson, MA, C Psych, is a psychologist in Toronto, Ontario, where she maintains a private practice focusing on assessment and treatment services for traumatized individuals and families. She also provides clinical training and consultation.

Review :
"Clinically applicable, thoroughly researched, and a pleasure to read, this book is a remarkable addition to the child and adolescent literature! For any therapist working with traumatized youth, Shilson brings her respectful, caring approach and pairs it with practical tools. The techniques are useful, easy to follow, creative, and developmentally sensitive. For educators in the field of child therapy, this book brings a thoughtful approach to intervention with the child, their parents, and families, and it grapples with issues that are oftentimes skipped over in child treatment. For seasoned clinicians and students alike, this is a rare find!" — Robert T. Muller, PhD, author of Trauma and the Struggle to Open Up and professor of clinical psychology at York University in Ontario, Canada "Kim Shilson has written a brilliant comprehensive text on the therapeutic treatment of traumatized children and adolescents. She includes the basics of diagnosis and assessment, treatment frame, and the therapeutic relationship together with a variety of approaches that represent the best and latest ideas in the field. This is far more than ‘just’ a book on somatic approaches. It is a necessary addition to the library of every child therapist." — Janina Fisher, PhD, assistant educational director at Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute "Kim Shilson has written a valuable resource for any clinician who works with youth. Weaving relevant literature with practical application, she provides a comprehensive overview of how to approach and proceed with youth clients. Her vignettes breathe life into case examples and allow the reader to get a feel for the challenges faced by these young clients. This book is a great guide to a rewarding and meaningful engagement with youth in psychotherapeutic practice, and Kim Shilson illustrates beginning to end the tasks and relationships necessary to work with youth. The presentations of therapeutic options, illustrations, and tables make the work accessible and instantly applicable. An inspiring text." — Rochelle Sharpe Lohrasbe, PhD, EMDRIA-approved consultant, faculty at Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute, and practicing psychotherapist in British Columbia, Canada