Erica Frydenberg is a clinical, organisational, counselling and educational psychologist. She practiced extensively in educational settings in Australia before joining the staff of the University of Melbourne, where she is an Associate Professor in Psychology in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education. She is a Fellow of the Australian Psychological Society and an elected member of its Board 2007-2009. Erica has authored over 100 academic journal articles and chapters in the field of coping, published psychological instruments to measure coping and developed programs to teach coping skills.Jan Deans is Senior Lecturer and Director of the Early Learning Centre at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Kelly O'Brien is an Educational Psychologist with experience in early childhood and early intervention, based in Australia. Kelly currently works within the education sector where she has an interest in mental health promotion and social and emotional learning. Kelly was instrumental in the development of the Mentally Healthy Schools Framework, extending the Act-Belong-Commit campaign, the first mental health promotion campaign of its type, to a school setting.

'Based on research over many years, at last there is a book to help young children develop coping strategies needed for a strong sense of self and socio-emotional skills needed for success in life!Using coping images to promote discussion, arts, and other discipline-based learning activities, this book provides the theoretical base and practical strategies to help young children cope in positive ways with hard situations important to the age. Applicable to classrooms and to the home environment, as well as dealing with coping for students with special needs, this book is needed more than ever in our increasingly stressful and complex world to prepare young children to successfully manage their fears and feelings.' LeoNora M. Cohen, Emeritus Professor of Education, Oregon State University, USA

• Introduction. \ Part 1 THEORY FOR THE PRACTITIONER \ 1. Development in the Eatly Years: Some Important Concepts to Consider \ 2. Stress, Concerns and Coping: The Worries of Young Children \ 3. Situations and Coping Strategies: An Introduction to Coping Images \ 4. Developing Coping Skills in a Universal Group: Teaching Coping Skills across Various Group Settings \ Part 2 MOVING, THINKING, DOING: APPLICATIONS AND ACTIVITIES ACROSS DISCIPLINES AND SETTINGS \ 5. Visual Arts: Developing Coping Skills through Art and Play \ 6. Dance: Learning Coping Skills through Music and Movement \ 7. Music: Feeling, Creating and Coping with Sounds and Rhythms \ 8. Literacy, Language, Words and Coping: Encouraging Social and Emotional Development through Narrative \ 9. Developing CCoping Skills in the Family Context: Harnessing the Strengths of a Family Group to Create Positive Outcomes for Young People \ 10. Coping and Clinical Contexts: Supporting a Child Working with an External Health Professional \ References \ Index