Tag Archives: child therapy

Adventures Within Relaxation CD

Adventures Within Relaxation and Guided Imagery CD

I bought this CD many months ago and have finally taken the time to start listening. I love Adventures Within so much, I wanted to share it with you all!

Kids Relaxation (www.kidsrelaxation.com) is one  of my favorite blogs. It’s filled with wonderful ideas for teaching kids (and adults) relaxation techniques using quite a bit of guided imagery.

Here is what I love so far:

  • The CD was a purchase I made to use with kids in session, but I have actually found it to be useful for myself, and for adults too.
  • The female voice narrating is both calming, as well as kid-friendly. In other words, it is relaxing, but will still keep kids engaged.
  • The CD starts out by teaching HOW to relax through imagination, deep breathing (she calls it balloon breathing), and positive self talk.
  • There are numerous guided imagery scenaries on the CD.
  • I am still working my way through the entire CD, but so far my favorite is Finding Strength in the Storm. And Finding Strength in the Storm mp3 Downloadguess what? You can purchase each one separately on mp3. I linked you to my favorite, but certainly suggest listening to more than one.

If you have a relaxation or guided imagery CD or mp3 you enjoy, please share!

You May Also Like:

Creative Ways To Teach Deep Breathing to Kids

Creating A Calm Down Box

Self-Care Quick Tip (with a little comic relief!)

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Filed under Child Therapy, Self Care

Guest Post: All About Psycho-Social Rehabilitation (PSR)!

All About Psycho-Social RehabilitationHello from the Potato State! My name is Stacey and I am co-runner of a little Idaho blog called: A PSR Gathering. I am here today to give a little insight on what we do!

In Idaho we have an awesome service offered to children and adults called PSR or Psycho-Social Rehabilitation. PSR is not available to everyone (it is a Medicaid only service and not in every state) which examples the blank stares I often get when I tell people what I do. Katie and I work with children (ages 4-19 is the general range of clients) but, adult services are available! Clients who qualify for PSR have been diagnosed with a Serious Emotional Disturbance (SED) for children, or a Severe and Persistent Mental Disorder (SPMD) for adults. I am going to keep this simple and sweet for you today, if you have a questions feel free to ask!

Who?

Have a Bachelors degree (in Social Services, Early Childhood Education, Sociology, Social Work, Psychology, and the like)? You can do PSR! You will have to gain a USPRA certification though, if you wish to work in the state of Idaho. Some states even require a master’s degree.

About us:

Katie (on the left): I graduated with a BAS in Child Care and Development from Boise State University in 2009. I have lived in Boise the majority of my life, am married with two dogs and with what spare time I can find love to travel, run, camp and read.  I have worked with kids for about 15 years in many different ways, from camp counselor to tutor to Pre-school teacher! I have been working as a PSR Specialist for about two and a half years now, and am just feeling like I’m getting the hang of it!

Stacey (on the right): I graduated from Boise State University in 2010, with my B.F.A in Drawing and studies in Psychology and Art Therapy. My family moved us to Boise when I was 10 and we have been here ever since. I just bought a house a street over from my childhood home and live there with my boyfriend of many years and our bully breed pup, Penny. I have too many interests to list but the tops are: creating, motorcycles, bargain hunting and kicking back! I have always had a passion for helping others, which has given me the opportunity to work in an array of jobs.  From working with animals, to slinging coffee or advising college students… I’ve done it all! I have been a PSR specialist for going on two years and can’t wait to see where it takes me.

What do we do as PSR workers?

PSR is individual skill based training, such as anger management, social skills emotions recognition, etc.

When do we work?

Each client qualifies for about 4-5 hours per week. We work in the community so our hours are outside of school hours–afternoons, night and weekends. As you can imagine we love summer for its flexibility!

So…an office? School?…where do you work?

PSR is a community-based position, no office (unless your car counts–I haven’t used my trunk for purposes other than hauling around ‘PSR’ tools for 2 years now-ha!). We work in the homes or take them out into the community to work. Libraries, malls, Barnes and Noble, coffee shops, parks–you get the idea.

Why?

Our goal(s) in PSR are simple. When a client comes into PSR a treatment plan is designed that consists of measurable and behaviorally specific objectives. PSR is there to build skills to better communicate, interact within society, build relationships, handle situations and overall be the best kiddos they can be!

How?

We do an array of activities with clients (based on age, understanding and needs). Being out in the community and in the homes, we get a good glimpse on what our clients are like when their ‘guard’ is down, which lends to a lot of  ‘real life training.’ We also get to be silly kids our selves by using play and art to teach our clients new skills! Check
http://www.psrideaweb.com/
for awesome activity ideas!

PSR Gathering

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Filed under Child Therapy, Therapeutic Activities

Connecting With Your Child Through Play, Part 2: Getting Started in Filial Therapy

Connecting With Your Child Through Play, Part 2 Getting Started; Kim's Counseling Corner Last week, I posted an Introduction to Filial Therapy. Don’t let the name deter you from reading further. This is simply a tool that play therapists use to create and strengthen the relationship between parents and children.

Today, I am going to share the first few steps in getting started in this special play time with your child! We will talk about who will be included, where the play time should be held, a time to schedule, what to tell your child, and what play materials you will need. I am so excited about this blog series because I know so many parents and children can benefit from devoting this time together!!

Getting Started:

Who: This play time is recommended for ONE parent and ONE child together at a time. It doesn’t matter if it’s mom or dad. I recommend these sessions for children between the ages of 3 years and 7 years of age.

When: Decide upon a specific play session time. I recommend starting with 20-30 minutes, once a week. Choose a time when you will have little to no interruptions and you can focus your attention solely on the child. You also want to consider a time when your child will be fed and rested to avoid any irritability or fussiness.

Where: Choose a room that has little distrations for you and your child. You will be putting the toys on the floor so consider somewhere with decent floor space. If all the rooms in your house are regularly used, just make sure the space is clean (to minimize the distration of thinking about the mess).

What To Tell The Child: Tell your child that you want to spend more quality time with them and you have chosen the special time, place, and toys to play together. Make the focus on your desire to spend time with them, rather than wanting anything from the child.

Play Materials: Below is a list of toys and play materials to collect, but first I have a few pointers/guidelines.

  1. Store your toys in a special box or bag, away from the child’s other toys.
  2. Do not allow the child to bring in any toys or take any toys from this box of designated toys.
  3. You can find many of these toys at dollar stores and garage sales. Don’t fret about spending a lot of money!
  4. If you cannot find every toy on this list, do NOT let it keep you from getting started. If you have a good amout of the toys, or find good substitute, then you are good to go!
  5. And finally, below is a list of toys to get started.
  • Play-doh
  • Paper
  • Crayons
  • Child scissors
  • Glue (I prefer stick glue)
  • Pencil
  • Scotch tape
  • 1-2 small cars
  • Police car
  • Fire truck
  • Ambulance
  • 2 cell phones (I use an old cell I no longer use)
  • Medical kit
  • Toy swords
  • Handcuffs
  • Kitchen set (couple dishes and toy food)
  • Baby doll
  • Baby doll accessories (such as a bottle, diaper, clothes)
  • Set of animals (such as a lion, elephant, monkey, shark, dog, pig, etc)
  • 2 soft animals
  • Deck of cards
  • Small ball
  • Noise maker (such as a maraca or toy drum)

I gathered a small sample of toys from my play room to give you an example of the types of toys you will be gathering. Happy hunting!

filial 1filial 2filial 3filial 5filial 4

Need to catch up on this series?

Connecting With Your Child Through Play, Part 1: Introduction

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Creative Ways To Teach Deep Breathing To Kids

I forgot to share with you all a newsletter article I have featured on Liana Lowenstein’s December newsletter. Please check it out! There is a lot of great information shared in her monthly newsletter so I encourage you to sign up!

Creative Ways to Teach Deep Breathing to Kids

 

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50 Activities and Games Dealing With Anger

background courtesy freedigitalphotos.net

Over time, I have come across many anger-related activities from websites, blogs, and more. I decided to gather them all in one place and came up with a list of 50. If you have any other tools targeting anger, please share with the rest of us!

Activities:

1. Angry Paper Toss

2. Creating a Calm Down Box

3. Deep Breathing Activities

4. Angry Tornado

This anger management activity can show a client how anger can build up inside a person. It can also show the client that when they feel an angry tornado building up inside of them they can use coping skills to help defuse the anger.

5. The Tower

With this activity the play therapy client will create a “visual” of their problems being locked away in a tower and come up with solutions to solving these problems. If the play therapy client is not ready to create a solution to the problem the client can still benefit by visualizing the problem locked away in the tower. The play therapy client can become empowered by separating themselves from the problem that is locked away in the tower.

6. Anger Control Problem Solving Cards

Anger control cards define problems experienced in a variety of settings and enable children to develop self-awareness and behavorial skills.

7. The Angry Octopus Activity

8. Anger Management Flip Book

9. Calm Down Sandwichesphoto of a strategy sandwich

The ingredients – some meat and cheese, two tomato slices and a piece of lettuce – represent the things that we’ve talked about trying when the worries start to overwhelm.

10. The M&M Anger Game

11. Power Cards

Power Cards are highly visual and they contain short blurbs or lists of information that will help a child in various situations that he may come across.

12. Don’t Be Caught Being Angry. Be A Smart Fish.

13. Anger Map

14. How Big Is Your Anger Worksheet

15. Don’t Be An Angry Bird and Cool Down Strategies

16. Balloon Anger Activity

17. When Sophie Gets Angry

After reading When Sophie Gets Angry–Really, Really Angry…, we played a game with the tree pictured. I gave students examples of things that made them or Sophie angry and had students put a leaf on the tree for their response.

18. Anger Gage

19. Cooling Off a Hot Temper: Reset The Thermostat

20. Books That Help Kids Deal With Anger

21. Relaxing Rice Jars

22. Anger Control Puppets

The Anger Management Puppet Set includes 3 Puppets, a CD of recorded script and catchy original music, and a separate guide. The two scripts and one CD that are designed to help counselors, teachers, or parents teach children about how to be a good sport and how to deal with anger. These puppets are suitable for small and large hands are quite durable. They are made for long term use.

23. Hidden Heart Group Activity

For people to recognize and understand that the anger they keep on the inside affects how they live their lives. To help people recognize the good things that they have in their hearts and to encourage them to share this part of themselves with others.

24. Anger Management Cards

Give these cards to students to use throughout their day. Have them place their thumb behind the card and watch for the color change to reveal how calm they can make themselves. Four useful steps to anger control are provided on the back of each card.

25. Turtle Time Relaxation Technique

26. Humortunities: Using Laughter Meditation to Let Go and Relax

27. Fun and Easy To Make Relaxation Flip Books

Kids had fun practicing these, and it was inexpensive to reproduce laminated flip books to send home with clients.

28. Mind Movie: The Relaxed You

29. Sailing Through the Icy Fields of Anger (online interactive tool)

30. Squeeze Your Angries Out (online interactive tool)

Games:

1. Escape From Anger Island

Escape form Anger Island™ is designed with the busy counselor in mind, and it can be played in just 15 minutes. There are six skills in total, and one skill is the focus of each 15 minute session. Kids can play multiple times to learn all six skills.

2. Anger Blob Cards

These cards depict different elements of the anger cycle. Using appropriate cards in a variety of activities discussed in the accompanying booklet will facilitate awareness of the causes of anger and help to work out ways to overcome those triggers. For use one-to-one or with small or large groups.

3. Anger Control Dominos

In this new game, players have fun playing dominoes while learning to manage their anger and problem-solve in a thoughtful, assertive, and respectful way.

 

4. Berenstain Bears Keep Your Cool Card Game

This game is intended to introduce the concept of anger management to children, while encouraging them to talk about things that bother them. The game is played like the familiar children’s card game of War, but with a peaceful twist!

5. Keep Your Cool Game

The game can be introduced with two included short stories about “Self-Control Seth” and “Bad Attitude Brittany.” Also included are ideas for reinforcing the concepts presented in the game.

6. Stop That Angry Thought Card Game

Here’s a deck of cards that teaches children how to manage their anger. Using two internal dialog techniques—Thought Stopping and Self-Talk—kids can stop anger in its tracks. By simply playing cards, they learn to envision a stop sign whenever their anger is triggered and to replace their angry thoughts with more positive responses.

7. Angry Animals

Angry Aardvark, Cranky Crab, Furious Frog, Mad Meerkat, Peeved Pig, and Raging Racoon teach children how to respond to anger in healthy ways. As they move from the Anger Volcano to Tranquility Beach—with occasional visits to the Time-Out Tent—kids answer game card questions about behavior, responsibility, sibling rivalry, conflict, and relationships. Along the way, they learn that anger is a natural feeling, neither good nor bad. It’s the way one expresses anger that matters.

8. Smart and Angry

Smart and Angry is a therapeutic and educational board game designed to teach young people specific skills that will help them look objectively at anger-provoking situations and react in a thoughtful, assertive, and respectful way. It is not the anger that gets kids in trouble, but rather the actions they take when they are angry, that determine whether they can solve the problem or make things worse. In addition, many people misread situations and become angry when it is inappropriate.

9. Peacetown: A Conflict Resolution Game

10. The Anger Solution Game

11. Remote Control Anger Control

12. Positive Ways To Handle Anger Card Game

The Positive Ways to Handle Anger Card Game is played like the classic Old Maid card game. There are 20 sets of matching cards that show positive, safe ways to handle angry feelings. Each game includes playing instructions, information about anger and how to use the game as an educational tool.

13. The Berenstain Bears Keep Your Cool Bingo

14. The Berenstain Bears Keep Your Cool Card Game

15. Stop That Angry Thought Card Game

16. Exploring My Anger Board Game

17. Anger IQ (Adolescence through Adult)

The Anger IQ game educates players about the hazards of irrational thinking associated with anger, and gives them practice avoiding them by using a set of principles for dealing with anger. Players will translate this rehearsal of responsible decisions made under conditions of anger to the real world. This combined use of CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and Social Learning Theory is particularly effective.

18. “I Was So Mad” Anger Game

This game helps children learn how to stay cool and not blow up when they are angry. The object of the “I Was So Mad” Anger Game is to help children learn positive ways to control and regulate themselves when they are angry.

19. Anger Bingo for Teens

20. Mad Dragon: An Anger Control Card Game

feature imageThis fast-paced therapeutic card game helps children control their anger in the moment, practice effective anger management techniques, and understand what anger looks and feels like. Mad Dragon plays like the popular card game Uno.

You May Also Like:

Recognizing Depression in Men

Living In The Moment

No Longer a Super Mom Wannabe

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Filed under Anger, Child Therapy, Therapeutic Activities

Guest Blog Post on HoustonLPC.com!

I am very excited to share a link to my very first “guest blog post,” Top 5 Questions About Play Therapy Answered, on HoustonLPC.com! This is a quickly growing site for both mental health professionals and individuals seeking professional counseling services in the Houston, Texas and surrounding areas. HoustonLPC was founded by David Bueno Martin, an innovative counselor who brings energy and enthusiasm to the professional counseling arena.  He has a vision for the Houston area to provide relevant and important information for persons seeking counseling services and to unite professionals to collaborate for continuing education, work association and referrals. The site contains up-to-date counselor bios with their specialties listed for persons to consider interviewing when seeking professional counseling services. David also has a private practice in Katy, Texas, and you can find more information about Martin Counseling on his website.

Visit the website if you are:

1) seeking reliable counseling services

2) a professional counselor and would like to be considered for a listing

3) an intern looking for supervision

4) interested in posting a job opening for a professional counselor

I look forward to future collaboration with Mr. Martin and appreciate the opportunity to share my passion for play therapy with his audience!

 

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Art Therapy: Painting Your Body In Emotion

Painting emotions is a great way to learn more about where and how a person experiences their feelings. I learned this activity from a colleague, and I wish I knew the original source so I could credit them here. This is a fairly popular activity among therapists, which is a testament to how effective it is. It’s great for all ages, but I have used it only with children and teens so far.

You don’t have to be a therapist though. This is a wonderful tool for parents to use when talking with their kids about feelings. Whether you want to have a general discussion, or you want them to express feelings they may have over a certain event or problem (such as changing schools or divorce), this activity is appropriate.

I’m going to share some pictures of this activity done in previous sessions. No identifying information about the painters, such as gender, age, or names, will be shared in order to protect confidentiality.

What You Need:

Large construction paper

Cut-out of body (or draw one- I show examples of both)

Paint (at least 4 colors)

Paint brushes (although finger painting would work too)

Glue or glue stick

Pen or marker

.

Glue the body onto the construction paper.

.

Choose the feelings you want represented (Happy, Sad, Angry, Worried, Fearul, Nervous, etc.) and paint the part of the body that feeling is most often expressed. Talk about a time when you felt that feeling as well. Here are some examples to help with the explanation. Notice how the key to the colors is written on the side to reference later.

This child indicated their happy feeling was in their heart. They painted the face blue because they cry when they are sad. Notice they painted their legs red (anger) and explained this was because they want to kick things when they are angry. Purple is for nervous because their hands get sweaty.

The pre-teen painting this body has symptoms of ADHD and struggle with attention. They requested to include “distracted” as a feeling and painted their face “distracted” because they claimed to have trouble keeping their mind focused. Theypainted their hands red because they want to hit things when angry.

This child painted red for angry and covered their head, one hand (for hitting), and heart. Needless to say this is a child with a lot of anger. Black represented scared and blue represented sad.

Like other therapeutic activities, a lot of the value is in the discussion, as well as the activity itself. I always tell them that they can paint a feeling, and if they choose not to share more about why they painted that feeling where they did, they don’t have to. This allows them the opportunity to express feelings within themselves, even if they are not comfortable sharing more.

Have you tried this activity? If so, what was your experience?

You May Also Like:

Angry Paper Toss

The Power of Play: Review of Part I

Living In The Moment

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Filed under Child Therapy