ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the primarily non-verbal process of working with children who have experienced complex trauma and abuse, the central thesis being that an ever-emerging neurobiological awareness and understanding of the impact of trauma is supporting what, as arts and play therapists, we have intuitively known for some time; that this work more often than not sits in a space beyond words. Drawing upon child-centred play therapy, the allied arts therapies, and also the author’s own experience as a therapist and musician, metaphorical ideas around musical improvisation and connections to the non-verbal therapeutic process of play therapy are also explored.
