Speaking about the Unspeakable: Non-Verbal Methods and Experiences in Therapy with Children

Children do not always have the capacity or need to express themselves through words. They often succeed in saying more about their feelings and experiences by communicating non-verbally through play and other expressive, creative activities. The basic premise of Speaking about the Unspeakable is that life's most pivotal experiences, both good and bad, can be truly expressed via the language of the imagination. Through creativity and play, children are free to articulate their emotions indirectly. The contributors, all experienced child therapists, describe a wide variety of non-verbal therapeutic techniques, including clay, sand, movement and nature therapy, illustrating their descriptions with moving case studies from their professional experience. Accessible and engaging, this book will inspire child psychologists and therapists, art therapists and anyone with an interest in therapeutic work with children.

Table of Contents:
Foreword. Dr. Priscilla Rodgers. Introduction. Dennis McCarthy LMHC. 1. The Hidden Treasure of the Self. Jenny Bates LCSW. 2. Getting the Inside Out: Speaking with Clay. Michelle Rhodes LMSW ATR-BC. 3. Speaking with the Body: Using Dance/Movement Therapy to Enhance Commnication and Healing with Young Children. Susan Loman ADTR and Claire LeMessurier ADTR. 4. Speaking with Silence: Play Therapy with Selective Mute Children. Brenda Lawrence LCSW-R. 5. The Secret Garden: Healing through Nature. Dr.Ilka List. 6. Speaking with the Imagination. Dr. Patti Knoblauch. 7. Dance/ Movement Therapy with Children. Rena Kornblum ADTR. 8. The Healing Power of Creative Expression. Dr. Nancy Rowe. 9. Getting to the Core: Moving through the Language Barrier. Noelle Ghnassia-Damon LCSW-R. 10. Quicksand: A Provocation to Change. Dennis McCarthy. Epilogue. Dennis McCarthy. Contributors. Index.

About the Author :
Dennis McCarthy is a licensed mental health counselor in New York state and is the director of Metamorfos Institute. He is a psychotherapist working with both children and adults and specializing in sandplay and dream work. Initially trained as a dancer, he weaves the body's innate urge to move into all of his work. Dennis McCarthy is the author of "If You Turned into a Monster": Transformation through Play: A Body-Centred Approach to Play Therapy, also published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Review :
'The imaginative therapies described in this book offer a welcome counter-balance to medical trends dominating the current practice of children's therapy. Inspired practitioners experienced in listening to buried, altered or muted voices of traumatized children invite us into their consulting rooms to witness the unique ways the soul speaks in images, movement and sound.'- Nor Hall, Ph.D. psychotherapist, theater artist and author of The Moon & the Virgin and Those Women'This book is an offering to all our senses enabling us to delve into the powerful sphere of the implicit, making tangible aspects of self that have been difficult to reach in more traditional psychotherapeutic practices. I highly recommend this book for all readers, as a therapeutic tool, a guide to understanding your child's play, or to stimulate your own self-expression. Accept the offering and receive a gift that will inspire your thinking as well as your creative sense.' - Suzi Tortora, Ed.D. registered dance therapist and the author of The Dancing Dialogue: Using the Communicative Power of Movement with Young Children