Through rich and research-grounded clinical applications, Using Superheroes and Villains in Counseling and Play Therapy explores creative techniques for integrating superhero stories and metaphors in clinical work with children, adolescents, adults and families. Each chapter draws on the latest empirically supported approaches and techniques to address a wide range of clinical challenges in individual, family and group settings. The chapters also explore important contextual issues of race, gender, culture, age and ethnicity and provide case studies and practical tips that clinicians can use to support clients on their healing journey.

Harness the Therapeutic Power of the Superhero! Application of the Star Wars Adoption Narrative Emotional Literacy and the Incredible Hulk Batman and Trauma What Would Superman Do--An Adlerian Approach? With an incisive historical foreword by John Shelton Lawrence and insight from contributors such as Michael Brody, Patty Scanlon, and Roger Kaufman, Lawrence Rubin takes us on a dynamic tour of the benefits of using these icons of popular culture and fantasy in counseling and play therapy. Not only can superheroes assist in clinical work with children, but Rubin demonstrates how they can facilitate growth and change with teen and adults. Early childhood memories of how we felt pretending to have the power to save the world or our families in the face of impending danger still resonate in our adult lives, making the use of superheroes attractive as well, to the creative counselor. In presenting case studies and wisdom gleaned from practicing therapists' experience, Lawrence Rubin shows how it is possible to uncover children's secret identities, assist treatment of adolescents with sexual behavior problems, and inspire the journey of individuation for gay and lesbian clients, all by paying attention to our intrinsic social need for superhero fantasy and play.

Implementing Play Therapy with Groups is a new and innovative edited book bringing together experts from across the field of play therapy to explore how to facilitate group play therapy across challenging settings, diagnoses, and practice environments. Applying theoretical and empirical information to address treatment challenges, each chapter focuses on a specific treatment issue and explores ways the reader can implement group work within their play therapy work. Chapters also provide contemporary evidence-based clinical information in providing group therapy with specific populations such as working with children who have been exposed to violence, trauma, adoption, foster care, those who are chronically medically fragile, and more. This book will bring awareness to, and provide easily implemented play therapy knowledge and interventions for, child and family therapists who work in a range of settings including schools, hospitals, residential treatment centers, and community mental health settings.

Play therapy is one of the fastest-growing specialty areas in mental health. Understanding the skills, knowledge, and strategies that make play therapy supervision effective is essential in supporting the integrity and needs of a thriving field. Play Therapy Supervision: A Practical Guide to Models and Best Practices is an all-encompassing play therapy supervision compendium. In these pages, current and prospective play therapy professionals and supervisors will find effective strategies for engaging in supervision, with literature that is firmly rooted in empirical research, and practical examples. Useful for novice and experienced supervisors, this book describes best practices in supervision and contemporary topics for building an effective play therapy supervision practice. This text also emphasizes the critical importance of cultural humility in play therapy supervision. Other important features include: Ethical and legal issues in play therapy supervision Building a play therapy supervision relationship Evaluation in play therapy supervision Technology in play therapy supervision, including extended reality School-based play therapy supervision Techniques in play therapy supervision: mindfulness, sand tray, self-compassion, art and movement, and more!

Drawing on ACT and CBT, this guide incorporates popular culture into evidence-based therapy, offering a unique approach for mental health professionals to better support clients dealing with anxiety and trauma. With fun and engaging activities and downloadable worksheets, it aims to alleviate the shame and stigma surrounding mental health, empowering clients to discover their origin story and reframe their experiences to become real life superheroes. Covering topics such as building resilience, identifying and overcoming key challenges, and mindfulness, this book introduces familiar superheroes as characters to identify with, aiming to validate clients' experiences and encourage deeper understanding and reflection during sessions. It provides a range of activities and worksheets to use in a variety of settings with children aged 7+, teens and adults. An increasingly popular approach, this guide is an invaluable and timely resource for all mental health professionals working with those experiencing anxiety and trauma.

This book combines empirical support, clinical acumen, and practical recommendations in a comprehensive manner to examine creative augmentations to the robust cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) model. It discusses augmentations that are supported by research and practice and are also clinical-friendly tools. Each chapter briefly summarizes research findings, offers parsimonious explanations of theoretical concepts and principles, presents vivid descriptions of therapeutic procedures, and describes rich case illustrations. The book addresses the use of humor in CBT with youth, playful applications of CBT, applications of improvisational theatre in CBT and integrating superheroes into CBT. Key areas of coverage include: Building stronger, more flexible, and enduring alliances with children and adolescents to improve treatment retention and impact. Using humor and irreverent communication in dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) to enhance outcomes with adolescents. Developing rapport between medical and psychosocial team members to alleviate stress during pediatric medical procedures and as an adjunct to therapeutic interventions. Cognitive behavioral play therapy (CBPT) with young children. Family-focused CBT for pediatric OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder). Cognitive Behavioral Psychodrama Group Therapy (CBPGT) with youth. This unique and compelling volume is an authoritative resource for researchers, professors, clinicians, therapists and other professionals as well as graduate students in developmental psychology, pediatrics, social work, child and adolescent psychiatry, and nursing.

Superhero Grief uses modern superhero narratives to teach the principles of grief theories and concepts and provide practical ideas for promoting healing. Chapters offer clinical strategies, approaches, and interventions, including strategies based in expressive arts and complementary therapies. Leading researchers, clinicians, and professionals address major topics in death, dying, and bereavement, using superhero narratives to explore loss in the context of bereavement and to promote a contextual view of issues and relationship types that can improve coping skills. This volume provides support and psychoeducation to students, clinicians, educators, researchers, and the bereaved while contributing significantly to the literature on the intersection of death, grief, and trauma.

This latest installment in the Psychology of Popular Culture series turns its focus to superheroes. Superheroes have survived and fascinated for more than 70 years in no small part due to their psychological depth. In The Psychology of Superheroes, almost two dozen psychologists get into the heads of today's most popular and intriguing superheroes. Why do superheroes choose to be superheroes? Where does Spider-Man's altruism come from, and what does it mean? Why is there so much prejudice against the X-Men, and how could they have responded to it, other than the way they did? Why are super-villains so aggressive? The Psychology of Superheroes answers these questions, exploring the inner workings our heroes usually only share with their therapists.

Everyone has a superhero within. Superheroes Unmasked empowers children to learn from the inside out. It is a student focused program teaching emotional awareness and coping skills as they relate to self-esteem, team building, bullying and leadership. By using superheroes and villains kids create themselves, they learn to internalize difficult concepts creating a sense of safety and nurturance for all. Superheroes Unmasked examines the root causes of bullying and links to current learning standards. The 70 activities and games in this program are a transformational springboard to growth. The process in this program is more important than the product; the journey is more important than the destination. Let's enable our kids to become agents of positive change.

Player. Jock. Slacker. Competitor. Superhero. Goofball. Boys are besieged by images in the media that encourage slacking over studying; competition over teamwork; power over empower - ment; and being cool over being yourself. From cartoons to video games, boys are bombarded with stereotypes about what it means to be a boy, including messages about violence, risktaking, and perfecting an image of just not caring. Straight from the mouths of over 600 boys surveyed from across the U.S., the authors offer parents a long, hard look at what boys are watch ing, reading, hearing, and doing. They give parents advice on how to talk with their sons about these troubling images and provide them with tools to help their sons resist these mes sages and be their unique selves.