You’ve probably heard the saying, “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.” That always seemed a bit flippant to me. Like someone at Hallmark needed a cute little “chin up” message, and this is what they came up with. But when real life gets really messy, no one appreciates patronizing sentiment. Optimism, yes. But realistic[... read more]

By Vanessa Rogers, youth worker and author of the new set of books for those helping young people make informed decisions about alcohol, drugs and tobacco. Being a young person can be difficult. Fact. There are so many choices to make, as well as lots of physical, intellectual, emotional, and social concerns to deal with, from[... read more]

Congratulations to Liane Holliday Willey (pictured left) and Jennifer Cook O’Toole who have both been honoured by GRASP (the Global and Regional Asperger Syndrome Partnership) with the organisation’s 2012 Distinguished Spectrumite Medal. The award will be presented to them at a gala event today in New York City. Jessica Kingsley Publishers is proud to publish[... read more]

As the UK government announces that all state-funded academies will now have ‘well-being’ at the heart of their curriculum, Ruth MacConville and Tina Rae, authors of the new book, Building Happiness, Resilience and Motivation in Adolescents, discuss the impact of Positive Psychology on young people. What makes Positive Psychology a suitable approach for using with groups[... read more]

In this article, Dr. Peter Ladd, co-author of the new book, Person-Centered Diagnosis and Treatment in Mental Health: A Model for Empowering Clients, asks some important questions relating to traditional mental health diagnosis, and shares his own thoughts about where he believes it is heading in the future. Does the Semantics found in the DSM IV[... read more]

Richard Rose, child trauma intervention specialist and author of Life Story Therapy with Traumatized Children: A Model for Practice, shares some of his experiences of using life story work with traumatised children. The unique concept of the life story approach is that it has a defined process: The beginning (stage 1) requires the Therapeutic Worker to[... read more]

Last month, JKP Commissioning Editor Steve Jones and I packed our bags, books and banners and headed to the beautiful main campus of Queen’s University Belfast for the British Association for the Study and Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect’s 12th National Congress. The weather was mercifully kind for a few snatched days and, with[... read more]

By Ian Stuart-Hamilton, Professor of Developmental Psychology and Faculty Head of Research at University of Glamorgan, Wales, and author of The Psychology of Ageing, now in its fifth edition. This sounds like a typically tedious middle-class academic’s remark, but the truth is that this book’s life started at a drinks party at Cambridge University. In 1991 I[... read more]

Here, drama therapist Penny McFarlane shares two fun useful activities from her latest book, Creative Drama for Emotional Support, that will enable parents, carers, teachers, youth workers and others to help the little ones in their care manage difficult emotions and situations. Mr. Angry Man Download the activity » The purpose of this activity is to help prevent the child from being[... read more]

In this video, Lorri Yasenik and Ken Gardner explain their Play Therapy Dimensions Model, a decision-making tool that is already being used worldwide. The Play Therapy Dimensions Model allows play therapists to tailor their approach to the specific needs of the child. Practitioners are encouraged to be engaged and flexible during sessions, adapting their levels of[... read more]