ABSTRACT
Grounded in research and multicultural competency, this chapter focuses on encouragement, recognizing resiliency, and empowerment. It seeks to empower children, adolescents, and clinicians for continued challenging work in a complex and often scary world. By going beyond theory, the chapter offers myriad tried and true techniques for working with children and adolescents. These techniques range from mindfulness to play therapy to wilderness therapy. Counselors in training will feel prepared to discuss developmentally appropriate strategies with parents and teachers involved, feel confident in the abilities of the child to change given the right therapeutic alliance, and empower all involved to work together for the better of the child at the child’s pace. Play therapy is an evidenced-based practice and is shown to be effective with children with varying presenting problems and concerns, and also as a tool for wellness and prevention.
