ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights the importance of direct therapy with children, emphasising the unique considerations necessary for this work, and the suitability of the social worker for this mode of intervention. Cognitive-behavioural therapy as a direct intervention with children aims to train children in applying skills in order to achieve and maintain change and to generalise treatment outcomes, thus promoting emotional adjustment; in other words, the aim is to facilitate children learning to help themselves. A self-control model suited to social workers' skills and creative ingenuity will be presented. The therapeutic approach pinpoints cognitive deficits, and helps children to develop needed skills within a treatment model that directly links assessment, intervention and evaluation. Children can learn to become able to solve their own problems, fostering their sense of empowerment; moreover, in the long run, such a treatment paradigm seems to enable children to generate other solutions, generalising the skills learned in order to prevent future problems.
