Touch in Child Counseling and Play Therapy

Janet A. Courtney, PhD, LCSW is founder of FirstPlay® Therapy and an adjunct professor at Barry University School of Social Work in Miami Shores, Florida. She is a TEDx speaker and past president of the Florida Association for Play Therapy.She offers certification training to practitioners in FirstPlay® Infant Massage Storytelling and Kinesthetic Storytelling®.Robert D. Nolan, PhD, is the former executive director of the Institute for Child and Family Health (ICFH) in Miami, Florida. He was a founding member of the Florida Association for Play Therapy and served as its first president. In 2012, he received the lifetime achievement award from the United Way of Miami-Dade.

"Touch in Child Counseling and Play Therapy covers the multifaceted clinical and ethical challenges that arise in a diverse array of therapy settings with children from infancy to adolescence. This has been a very ‘touchy’ and controversial subject which the authors skillfully review. Touch experiences are inevitable in work with children, and the concluding chapter covers five important core competencies in dealing with these. The book will be very helpful for clinicians across disciplines."Nancy Boyd Webb, DSW, LICSW, RPT-S, University Distinguished Professor of Social Work emerita, Fordham University"In this groundbreaking book, Dr. Courtney and Dr. Nolan bravely broach the often-considered taboo subject of touch within child therapy. Through their own expertise, as well as that of other experienced therapists, these authors lead readers through ethical, legal, and competency issues related to using touch in therapy in order to guide therapists through best practices and effective therapies that use touch to heal the hurting child."Dee C. Ray, PhD, LPC-S, NCC, RPT-S, professor and director of the Child and Family Resource Clinic at the University of North Texas"Courage, depth, wisdom, and dignity are four words that flowed throughout the reading of this groundbreaking book. In their exploration of the life-enriching power of touch, Drs. Courtney and Nolan have built a significant professional and ethical bridge that has been desperately needed for all of us who are working with children. Add this ‘must-have’ creatively crafted book to your library and be touched."Joyce C. Mills, PhD, RPT-S, founder of StoryPlay Global and coauthor of Therapeutic Metaphors for Children and the Child Within"Brilliant and bold, this is a groundbreaking, long-awaited book on a topic that needs thoughtful discussion and an exchange of ideas. The editors and contributors of this volume build on the pioneering work of Viola Brody and are to be commended for taking the lead on this timely and vital topic."David A. Crenshaw, PhD, ABPP, author, board certified clinical psychologist and clinical director, Children's Home of Poughkeepsie

• Foreword Preface Acknowledgements About the Editors About the Contributors Part I: OVERVIEW & THE ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS OF TOUCH 1. Overview of Touch Related to Professional Ethical and Clinical Practice with Children Janet A. Courtney 2. Ethical and Risk-management Issues in the Use of Touch Frederic G. Reamer Part II: PLAY THERAPY MODELS THAT USE TOUCH AS AN INTERVENTION 3. The Neurobiology of Touch: Developmental Play Therapy with a Child Diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder Lynn Stammers 4. FirstPlay® Infant Massage Storytelling: Facilitating Corrective Touch Experiences With a Teenage Mother and Her Abused Infant Janet A. Courtney, Mayleen Velasquez, and Viktoria Bakai Toth 5. Use of Touch in Theraplay® with ADHD Children in a School Setting Angela F.Y. Siu 6. Touching Autism through DIR®/Floortime™ Eva Nowakowski-Sims and Audrey Gregan Part III: HEALING CHILDREN TRAUMATIZED BY TOUCH 7. Healing Touch: Working with Children Impacted by Abuse and Neglect JOANNE WHELLEY, ANDREA RAASCH, & SHAKTI SUTRIASA 8. Hands are Not for Hitting: Redefining Touch for Children Exposed to Domestic Violence RACHEL SCHARLEPP & MELISSA RADEY 9. Ethical Use of Touch and Nurturing-Restraint in Play Therapy with Aggressive Young Children, as Illustrated Through a Reflective Supervision Session ROXANNE GROBBEL, KRISTINA COOKE, & NORMA BONET 10. Healing Adolescent Trauma: Incorporating Ethical Touch in a Movement and Dance Therapy Group CAROL GOLLY, DANIELA RICCELLI, & MARK SMITH 11.The Emotion of Touch: Healing Reactive Attachment Disorder Through Child Centered Play Therapy JENN PEREIRA & SONDRA SMITH-ADCOCK Part IV: INNOVATIONS & THE UTILIZATION OF TOUCH WITH CHILDREN 12. The Role of Touch in Infant Mental Health: Strengthening the Parent-Infant Bond through Child Parent Psychotherapy MAITE SCHENKER, VERONICA CASTRO, & MONTSERRAT CASADO-KEHOE 13. The Utilization of Touch and StoryPlay® in Preschool Bereavement Groups Amy Davis King and Danielle Woods 14. The Ethics of Touch with Canines as Co-Therapist with Children BONNIE MARTIN & JANUS MONCUR 15. Teaching Positive Touch: A Child-to-Child Massage Model for the Classroom DAVID PALMER & JEAN BARLOW Part V: TOWARD THE DEVELOPMENT OF CORE COMPETENCIES SUPPORTING THE ETHICS OF TOUCH IN CHILD COUNSELING AND PLAY THERAPY 16. Core Competencies and Recommendations Supporting the Ethics of Touch in Child Counseling and Play Therapy SUSAN W. GRAY, JANET A. COURTNEY, & ROBERT D. NOLAN