Windoframes Learning the Art of Gestalt Play Therapy the Oaklander Way [Hardcover]

How do children emotionally heal and regain equilibrium after suffering trauma? How do adults understand and help them in a therapeutic relationship? These questions are at the heart of Violet Oaklander's approach to play therapy and her methods for training adults to work with children and adolescents. In this text, Peter Mortola uses qualitative and narrative methods of analysis to document and detail Oaklander's work in a two-week summer training attended by child therapists from around the world.Foreword IntroductionWeek One1. Day One: Monday - Building a Relationship2. Day Two: Tuesday - Making Contact3. Day Three: Wednesday - Experiencing the Self4. Day Four: Thursday - Working with Aggressive Energy and Anger5. Day Five: Friday - The Music ExperienceWeek Two6. Day Six: Monday - Sand Tray Day7. Day Seven: Tuesday - Stories, Metaphors, and Puppets8. Day Eight: Wednesday - Practicum Day9. Day Nine: Thursday - Self Nurturing Work10. Day Ten: Friday - Closing ActivitiesEpilogue: Clay, Culture, and Age: The Oaklander Approach in South AfricaAfterword:

As a Gestalt trainer in Play Therapy for the past 20 years, I have trained more than two thousand students in the Oaklander way.  Peter Mortola's research addresses the universal aspects of her approach - an approach that helps children make sense out of confusion regardless of whether they are living in Santa Barbara or Cape Town.

- Hannie Schoeman, Ph.D., The Centre for Play Therapy and Training, South Africa

The way Peter Mortola describes his own ten years of experience working with Violet Oaklander, he opens up another window for those who have had the rich group experience with her - and a brand new window for those who haven't. - Cassiana Silva Castro

Thank you, Peter, for writing this book.  I hope those of you who read it will gain an appreciation of what it takes to create and run such a training program, as well as inl#H