Healing in Action

Adventure-Based Counseling with Therapy Groups

By (author) Barney Straus

Publication date:

04 September 2018

Length of book:

220 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9781538117484

Healing in Action: Adventure-Based Counseling with Therapy Groups is a practical guide for therapists wanting to integrate interactive games and challenges into their work. It provides current research supporting using ABC with trauma survivors and those recovering from addictions, as well as its efficacy with a broader population. Twelve activity-based chapters take the reader through various one-hour sessions of activities based on a particular theme or material used, complete with 50 descriptive photos of groups in action. Therapists will be able to use these activities to help their patients experience in vivo the joy, freedom and playfulness that are the hallmarks of sound mental health.

With its combination of sound theoretical material and practical application, this book is a valuable resource for practitioners and graduate students alike.

Introduction	The ABC’s of Adventure-Based Counseling
Part I	History and Theoretical Underpinnings of ABC
Chapter 1	Group Theory Applied to ABC
Chapter 2	ABC for Trauma Survivors
Chapter 3	Unique Attributes of ABC and Some Practical Matters
Part II	ABC in Outpatient Mental Health Settings
Chapter 4	Overview of a Session
Chapter 5	Can Day: Discovering New Abilities within You¾What “Can” You Do?
Chapter 6	Noodle Day: Using Your Brain for Positive Growth and Change
Chapter 7	Ball Day: So-Long, Gym Class; Hello, Self-Acceptance
Chapter 8	Word Day: Saying and Playing What You Mean
Chapter 9	Paper Day: Beyond Reading and Writing On
Chapter 10	Numbers Day: Multiply Your Strengths!
Chapter 11	Rope Day: Securing Success
Chapter 12	Playing Card Day: Everybody Wins!
Chapter 13	Tarp Day: An Indoor Adventure
Chapter 14	No Prop Day: Pure Fun—Willingness Not Included
Chapter 15	Animal Day: Let Your Essence Shine
Chapter 16	Balloon Day: Finding the Levity within You
Part III	Adventure-Based Counseling for Recovery from Addiction
Chapter 17	Walking the Walk: ABC and Recovery from Addiction
Chapter 18	Recovery Adventure Day

This book is an impressive tour de force as it integrates the simplest forms of play with the most complex psychological dynamics that unfold as we work with mental illness and addiction. The most outstanding characteristic is its availability to the relatively new and inexperienced activity therapist and its simultaneously profound implications for the more seasoned and sophisticated psychotherapist, particularly those of us who practice group psychotherapy.