This book sets out therapeutic activities to help children aged 4-12 years and their families to better understand and manage anxiety. It explains how to work with anxious children, providing a framework for assessment and therapy that draws on CBT, ACT and narrative therapy approaches. Lots of practical tips for therapists are included and important developmental considerations are discussed, including adapting therapy for children with developmental difficulties, and working with families and schools.

Over 50 playful therapeutic activities are included, which have been developed through the author’s extensive work with children, giving children an arsenal of coping strategies. They focus on key areas such as understanding anxiety, managing anxious thoughts, and building resilience and use readily available, inexpensive materials and downloadable templates, which are provided in the book.

This is the perfect tool for therapists looking for playful and purposeful ways to work with children with anxiety.

Author Bio:

Dr Fiona Zandt is a clinical psychologist who currently works at the Royal Children’s Hospital and has a successful private practice in Melbourne. She has over 15 years’ experience working with children and families with a broad range of psychological difficulties.

 Dr Suzanne Barrett is a clinical psychologist who has over 17 years’ experience working therapeutically with children and families as well as significant experience in training and supervising psychologists working with children. She previously worked for the Royal Children’s Hospital Mental Health Service, and now has a successful private practice in Melbourne.

Review:

“I invite you to enjoy this wonderful book that Doctors Zandt and Barrett have created for all of us grownup therapists who need a kickstart for our imagination. They have taken the complicated ideas that explain how anxiety works in the body and mind and created fun, memorable ways to explain and experience what happens when a child gets anxious and what to do once anxiety occurs.”–from the Foreword, Karen Cassiday, President of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.