Rhythms of Relating in Children's Therapies

Colwyn Trevarthen is Emeritus Professor of Child Psychology and Psychobiology at the University of Edinburgh. Dennis McCarthy is a licensed mental health counselor in New York state and is the director of Metamorfos Institute. He is a psychotherapist working with both children and adults and specializing in sandplay and dream work. Initially trained as a dancer, he weaves the body's innate urge to move into all of his work. Penny McFarlane worked as a teacher in primary and secondary education for over fifteen years before obtaining her Diploma in Drama Therapy from Exeter University. She founded a creative arts in therapy project in inner city schools and has subsequently worked as a drama therapist and supervisor on a multi-agency support team. She co-founded a children's bereavement charity and has worked extensively in the field of divorce and separation and its effect on children. She lives in Devon where she is a practising drama therapist in primary and secondary schools.

• Introduction. Rhythm from the Beginning. Stuart Daniel, Play Therapist, Spectrum Integrated Play Therapy, UK and Colwyn Trevarthen, Professor Emeritus of Child Psychology and Psychobiology, University of Edinburgh, UK. Part One. The Musical Essence of Human Connection. 1. Love, Rhythm and Chronobiology. Nigel Osborne. 2. Health and Happiness Grow in Play: Caring for Intimate, Musical Vitality from Birth. Colwyn Trevarthen. Section Two. 3. 'I'm Right Here, Little One': A New Mother's Reflections on Dance Movement Psychotherapy. Carolyn Fresquez, Dance Movement Psychotherapist, New Mexico, USA. 4. Establishing a Therapy of Musicality: The Embodied Narratives of Myself with Others. Stephen Malloch, Director, HeartMind & Associates, Sydney, Australia and Researcher, Westmead Psychotherapy Program, Sydney Medical School, Sydney University. 5. Finding Our Way to Reciprocity: Working with Children Who Find it Difficult to Trust. Dan Hughes, Clinical Psychologist, Quittie Glen Center for Mental Health, Annville, Pennsylvania, USA. 6. From Cocoon to a Butterfly: Music Therapy with an Adopted Girl. Cochavit Elefant, Music Therapist, Head of Graduate School for Creative Arts Therapies, University of Haifa, Israel. 7. Play and the Dynamics of Treating Medical Trauma: Insights from Polyvagal Theory. Stephen Porges, Research Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, USA and Stuart Daniel. 8. Somatic Experiencing: A Body Oriented Approach to the Treatment of Traumatized Infants and Children. Peter Levine, PhD, Founder, The Somatic Experience® Trauma Institute, Boulder, Colorado, USA. 9. Finding Togetherness: Musicality in Play Therapy with Children with Severe Communication Difficulties. Stuart Daniel. 10. Harnessing the Dragon: Using an Image of Unbridled Life Force in Play Therapy. Dennis McCarthy, Mental Health Counsellor and Play Therapist, Director of the Metamorfos Institute, New York, USA. 11. The Lost and Found: Helping Children through Emotional Trauma Using Neurocellular Developmental Movement Methods. Katy Dymoke, Dance Movement Psychotherapist, Director of the BMC program, UK. Embody-Move and Touchdown Dance. 12. Relating when Relating is Hard: Working with Aggression in Play Therapy. Dee Ray, Distinguished Teaching Professor, Director of the Child and Family Resource Clinic, University of North Texas, USA. 13. The Rhythms of an Oily Cart Show: Theatre for Young People with Complex Learning Disabilities. Tim Webb, Artistic Director and CEO, Oily Cart. 14. A Meaningful Journey: Including Parents in Interactive Music Therapy Children at Risk. Stine Lindahl Jacobsen, Associate Professor, Head of MA Music Therapy Programme, Aalborg University, Denmark. 15. Noise, Time and Listening: Enabling Children to Express Themselves through Music. Hugh Nankivell, Composer and Musician, BSO Music Associate for Devon, UK and Sarah Butler, Early Years Leader, Haytor View Community Primary School and Nursery, UK. 16. A Voyage into the Seascape: Dramatherapy in Education. Penny McFarlane, Dramatherapist/Supervisor, UK. 17. Establishing Relationships with Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders through Dance Movement Psychotherapy: A Case Study Using Artistic Enquiry. Foteini Athanasiadou, Dance Movement Psychotherapist, UK and Vicky Karkou, Dance Movement Psychotherapist and Professor, Department of Performing Arts, Edge Hill University, UK. 18. Collective Musicality: Stories of Healing from the Companhia de Música Teatral and other Arts Projects. Helena Rodrigues, Laboratory of Music and Communication in Infancy, New University of Lisbon, Portugal and Companhia de Música Teatral and Paulo Rodrigues, Department of Communication and Art, University of Aveiro, Portugal and Companhia de Música Teatral. 19. Moving Freely to Music: A Child-Centred Research Practice in Early Years. Ana Almeida, Researcher, Institute for Music in Human and Social Development, ECA, University of Edinburgh, UK. 20. Seeing the Play in Music Therapy and Hearing the Music in Play Therapy for Children Receiving Medical Treatment. Jane Edwards, Associate Professor of Mental Health, Deakin University, Victoria, Australia and Judi Parson, Senior Lecturer in Mental Health, Deakin University, Victoria, Australia. 21. And then I Belonged: Relational Communication Therapy in a Remote Tanzanian Orphanage. Chantal Polzin, Teacher (Special Educational Needs) and Researcher, BabyLab Hannover, Leibniz University, Hannover, Germany, Ulrike Lüdtke, Professor and Head of Department, Speech and Language Pedagogy and Therapy and BabyLab Hannover, Leibniz University, Hannover, Germany, Josephat Semkiwa, Lecturer for Special Needs Education and Researcher, Sebastian Kolowa Memorial University, Tanzania, and Bodo Frank, Researcher/Co-director BabyLab Hannover, Leibniz University, Hannover, Germany.

This wonderful and utterly unique book is a treasure trove of fascinating and scholarly examples showing how conceptualising time, rhythm, collaboration and play in new ways can help vulnerable children. The authors present accessible, clear and concise chapters that highlight how the rhythms of relating are a fundamental feature of human existence. A "must read" for anybody interested in therapies for children.