Engaging Boys in Treatment

Craig Haen, MA, RDT, CGP, LCAT is Assistant Clinical Director for Andrus Children’s Center, in Yonkers, NY, and has a private practice working with children, adolescents, adults and families in White Plains. He serves as Adjunct Faculty at Manhattanville College where he oversees the Concentration in Drama Therapy and is co-chair of the American Group Psychotherapy Association’s Child and Adolescent Special Interest Group.

• Part I: Laying the Ground. Haen, Boys and Therapy: The Need for Creative Reformulation. Crenshaw, Barker, Depathologizing Masculine Strivings in Individual Psychotherapy with Boys. Malekoff, Principles and Practice for Strengths-based Group Work with Boys. Part II: Creative Approaches. Harvey, Physical Play with Boys of All Ages. Fine, Incorporating Animal-assisted Interventions in Therapy with Boys at Risk. Austin, Engaging At-risk Adolescent Boys Using Computers as a Therapeutic Medium. Haen, The Therapeutic Use of the Superhero in the Treatment of Boys. Cruz, Breaking Through with Art: Creative Art Therapy Approaches for Working with At-risk Boys. Part III: Special Populations. Currie, Doing Anger Differently: Working Creatively with Angry and Aggressive Boys. Grönlund, Renck, Body-based Treatment Approaches for Young Boys Diagnosed with ADHD. Creeden, Bergman, Attunement is an Experiential Verb: Treating Issues of Attachment and Self-regulation in Young Males with Sexual Behavior Difficulties. Caldwell, Mincy, Klempin, Rafferty, De Loney, Strengthening Bonds Between Non-resident African American Fathers and Sons as a Way to Reduce or Prevent Youth Risky Behaviors. Moore, Beauregard, Creative Approaches to Working with Gender Variant and Sexual Minority Boys.

"My favorite books are those that challenge my structured beliefs, stretch my comfort zone, ignite my curiosity, and elicit actions and reactions! Such is Haen’s new edited book on therapy with boys. Chapter after chapter there are insights, guidance, and creative ways of inviting youngsters to become invested in their own therapy process. This is a great compilation of topics from an array of smart, experienced, and gifted professionals. I learned a lot, I felt inspired, and I can’t wait to implement some of the innovative ideas in my work." Eliana Gil, PhD, Gil Center for Healing and Play, Virginia, USA"Boys are fantastic in their variety. Engaging Boys in Treatment is equally magnificent through timely and creative reconsiderations of therapeutic approaches to boyhood's multiplicity." Ken Corbett, PhD, author, Boyhoods: Rethinking Masculinities "Masses of innovative ideas, stacks of references for further exploration, a brilliant book." - Play for Life, Summer 2011",,,useful to all counsellors and psychotherapists trying to engage boys in treatment. As well as offering interesting suggestions and ideas for gaining the trust of boys, the book also examines some interesting theoretical contexts surrounding various problems and dilemmas, which I found informative and helpful." - Judith Sonnenberg, Counselling Children and Young People'This volume, and indeed the whole series, is a valuable addition to an important and ongoing depate. At a time when parents and politicians alike are demonising the young as 'hoodie' wearing, binge drinking looters, and self righteously engaging in rhetoric about 'moral decay' it is as important as ever that efforts continue to be made to understand children in ways which are playful, accepting, curious and empathic...[the book] is exploratory, discursive and thought-provoking." - John Robertson, Play Therapy