Once upon a Time in Therapy: Crafting Therapeutic Narratives to Help Familiarize Children with the Therapeutic Process

Date of Award

Fall 11-21-2012

Document Type

Doctoral Research Paper

Degree Name

Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology

Organizational Unit

Graduate School of Professional Psychology

First Advisor

Ragnar Storaasli

Second Advisor

Lynett Henderson Metzger

Third Advisor

Mary Monroe

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

All Rights Reserved
All Rights Reserved.

Keywords

Therapeutic narrative, Treatment manual, Children, Fantasy, Diversity, Multicultural counseling, Therapeutic alliance, Child psychotherapy

Abstract

Young children often harbor misconceptions about psychotherapy and the role of psychologists. These misconceptions are ignited by rumors and misinformation that are provided to the child by a variety of sources and can compromise both the effectiveness of therapy and the therapeutic dyad. In this paper we explore how recent trends in patient engagement in child psychotherapy, cultural dynamics between patients and practitioners, and children's lack of knowledge surrounding mental health services can negatively impact therapy. Wednesday Afternoons with Dr. J. (WADJ) is a whimsical fictional therapeutic narrative created to inform children about aspects of the therapeutic process while providing adults with tangible structure surrounding how to talk to children about mental healthcare. The advantages of utilizing this narrative to prime children for therapy are discussed, as are methods for promoting the narrative to the greater community.

Copyright Date

12-9-2012

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. Permanently suppressed.

Rights Holder

Jonathan Haywood Jenkins

Provenance

Received from Author

File Format

application/pdf

Language

English (eng)

Extent

28 pgs

This document is currently not available here.



Share

COinS