Conflict Garden: Using Expressive Arts to Address Conflict with Adolescents

Expressive arts therapies are a rich resource for use with children and adolescents, who are often unresponsive to traditional talk therapy, and highly useful to school counselors who must overcome cultural, language, and ability barriers that are increasingly present in diverse and multicultural school settings. This is the first book written specifically for school counselors about using creative and expressive arts counseling techniques in school settings. It presents over 100 interventions using art, drama, music, writing, dance, and movement that school counselors can easily incorporate into their practices with individual students and groups, and in classroom settings. These creative interventions, based on the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model framework, support the key student domains of academic, career, and personal/social development. The text also meets the important demand for accountability in school counseling by providing guidelines for evaluating the effectiveness of each intervention. Addressing such issues as emotional expression, social skills development, managing anger/aggression, developing self-esteem, working well with diverse peers, career exploration, and academic skill development, the book is organized by specific types of expressive arts therapies and how they can be used to support different domains in the ASCA model. Each intervention outlines the presenting concerns for which it is most useful, appropriate grade levels, required materials, preparation needed, step-by-step instructions, modifications for special needs students, and an outcome assessment plan. A handy quick reference chart helps readers to quickly locate appropriate interventions for specific concerns. Ideal for the school counselor, social worker, or psychologist who may not have specific training in arts therapies, this book can also help trained arts therapists who will be working in a school setting to select appropriate interventions