Cory Helps Kids Cope with Divorce: Playful Therapeutic Activities for Young Children

This book is part of the CORY series to help children cope with challenging issues. This version presents engaging activities to help very young clients cope with divorce. Cory, the central character in the story, helps children gradually confront and process their feelings and reactions related to the divorce.

Therapeutic games, art, and other playful activities are incorporated to lower the threat level of therapy and engage children in treatment. Questions and re-enforcers are woven throughout the story to captivate and sustain the child’s interest in the story, and to evaluate and encourage the child’s integration of the material.

The interventions below are addressed:

• Clarify divorce-related misconceptions
• Facilitate the appropriate expression of feelings
• Strengthen effective coping skills
• Reduce the stress of transitioning between two homes
• Address loyalty conflicts
• Reduce feelings of parental abandonment
• Protect and remove the child from parental conflict
• Eliminate self-blame for the divorce
• Resolve reunification fantasies
• Foster the child's healthy relationship with both parents
• Enhance positive perceptions of self

Includes a reproducible story, activities, and detailed parent handouts.

Also included - download link for:

Favorite Therapeutic Activities for Children, Youth and Families: - Practitioners Share Their Most effective Interventions. This is a creative collection of assessment and treatment techniques for individual, group, and family therapy.

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Table of Contents

Contents

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Introduction

Getting to Know Each Other

Feelings

Marriage and Divorce

Families

Two Homes

Feelings about Divorce

Coping with Upset Feelings

Coping with Upset Feelings: Variation for a Faraway Parent

Coping with Upset Feelings: Variation for an Absent Parent

When Parents Argue

Wishing Mom and Dad Will Live Together Again

Forever Love

Reviewing What Was Learned

The Last Day of Therapy

Appendix A: Parent Questionnaire

Appendix B: Custody/Access Dispute Contract

Appendix C: Sample Letter from the Therapist

References and Resources

Bonus Gift

"This volume is a great contribution to the library of therapists who work with very young children of divorce. It provides imaginative, engaging activities for children and includes parents on the therapeutic path with specific tips and handouts. Inventive and unique!"
- Dr. Helen Radovanovic, C. Psych. Registered Psychologist in Private Practice

"This manual offers creative, play-based techniques for working with young children coping with divorce. I have used many of the interventions myself and have found them to be exciting and illuminating for these young children."
- Laurie Stein, LLB, MSW, RSW Connections Child and Family Counselling

"The playful and engaging activities for children and the handouts for parents make this book a valuable resource for clinicians working with young children impacted by divorce. I will use this book again and again."
- Pam Dyson, MA, LPC, RPT Director, St. Louis Center for Play Therapy Training