Using Art, Play, Metaphor, and Symbol with Hard-to-Reach Young Clients

This book demonstrates some of the unique ways in which therapists can help complex and vulnerable clients considered "hard-to-reach", using arts media and play.

Using a wealth of case studies, contributors describe their unique therapeutic attempts to reach clients who, for various reasons, seem unreachable. These moving therapeutic journeys are described in a phenomenological, auto-ethnographic way by the therapists themselves, as a series of "snapshot" glimpses into the therapy room. The therapists describe how combinations of art, play, metaphor, and imagination have helped them navigate the complex pathways to reach their clients. Each chapter is fully supported by the contributing therapists' own selection of theoretical ideas and analysis.

The book will help therapists consider innovate creative approaches in their work with clients who have been deemed too complex to work with in individual therapy, emphasising the importance of play and arts resources in helping them achieve this.

Aileen Webber is a Gestalt and Integrative Arts Psychotherapist who works with children and adults and also works as a supervisor and consultant to other therapists.

James Webber is an artist, musician and writer. His songs have appeared in numerous films and TV shows. He is the editor and main contributor of the print newspaper Le Journal, published by Overheard Le Labo.