ABSTRACT
Children who exhibit sexual behavior problems present distinctive challenges and elicit concern among parents, educators, mental health professionals, and legal and child protective service agencies alike. In fact, a standardized response to these children’s behaviors has not yet been defined. To our knowledge, mental health professionals continue largely uninformed or intrigued about this specialized population and often find themselves perplexed about how to help distressed parents or children with sexual behavior problems. This chapter will present a group therapy model that specifically addresses the unique needs of children with sexual behavior problems and their families, called Boundary Project (Gil & Shaw, 2013c). Several key components include a comprehensive assessment to determine group participation, a parallel and conjoint process with parents, delegation of homework between group sessions, and a collateral approach with other professionals to ensure a consistent response across settings. In addition, group activities incorporate a range of expressive and cognitive-behavioral approaches.
