Jessica Ann

Identity is formed through the narration of experience, and children who experience difficult life events may need help in forming and expressing their own narratives. Play therapy can be a very appropriate way of facilitating this kind of expression. This book describes the work of nine play therapists through the narratives of children - and some adults - whose stories emerge during their play therapy sessions.

These stories are not direct accounts of real happenings but are imaginative, metaphorical, complex and multi-layered. The life events they relate to include fostering, long-term illness, and the traumatic death of a close adult. One chapter examines attachment in families and another describes the Biography Laboratory project exploring story creation through action research. This is a book in which professionals from many disciplines will find much to further their understanding of children's experiences and understanding of the world.

Ann Cattanach is a play therapist and dramatherapist in private practice. She has wide experience of teaching and lecturing in drama, dramatherapy and speech communication, and has also worked as a child psychotherapist, family therapist and dramatherapist for Social Services and NHS Trusts. She has written many papers, articles and books, including Play Therapy: Where the Sky Meets the Underworld, Children’s Stories in Play Therapy and Process in the Arts Therapies, also published by Jessica Kingsley.