Art Therapy in the Early Years Therapeutic interventions with infants, toddlers and their families

Art therapy with infants, toddlers and their families is an exciting and developing area of practice. With contributions from Australia, the United Kingdom and Spain, Art Therapy in the Early Years has an international flavour. The authors describe clinical art psychotherapy practice with children under five and their families in settings that include children in care, mental health clinics, paediatric wards, pre-schools, and early intervention programs. Divided into three sections, Art Therapy in the Early Years presents different clinical environments in which art psychotherapy with this client group is found: • individual art therapy; • group art therapy; • parent-child dyad and family art therapy. The book proposes that within these different contexts, the adaptive possibilities inherent in art psychotherapy provide opportunities for therapeutic growth for young children and their families. Art Therapy in the Early Years will be of interest to art therapists working with children; students and practitioners from creative arts therapies; psychologists and psychotherapists; social workers; pre-school teachers; child psychiatrists, clinical supervisors, and other professionals working in the early years settings.

List of illustrations Foreword Caroline Case Acknowledgements Introduction. Julia Meyerowitz-Katz and Dean Reddick Section 1. Individual art therapy with infants and toddlers 1 An Odd Mirror. Dean Reddick. UK 2. On mark making and leaving a mark. Processing the experience of art therapy with preschool children. Pensri Rowe. Australia 3 ‘Cheerful and not Cheerful’: Art Psychotherapy on a Paediatric Ward. Susan Rudnik. UK 4. ‘I do dots . . .’: art therapy with an Australian Aboriginal preschool child. Celia Conolly and Judy King. Australia Section 2. Family and dyad art therapy with infants, toddlers and their parents 5. Transitions: Moving from Infancy to latency through symbolisation and the acquisition of language. Tessa Dalley and Jen Bromham. UK 6. The imprint of another life: assessment and dyadic parent child art psychotherapy with an adoptive family. Anthea Hendry. UK 7. Amazing Mess: Mother’s get in touch with their infants through the vitality of painting together. Hilary Hosea.UK. 8. The crisis of the cream cakes. An infant’s food refusal as a representation of intergenerational trauma. Julia Meyerowitz-Katz. UK/Australia Section 3. Group art therapy with infants and toddlers. 9. Building a fort: art therapy with a group of toddlers going through the adoption process. Marcela Andrade del Corro. Spain 10. Making waves. An art psychotherapist’s retrospective review of counter transference drawings made in a preschool setting. Julie Green. Australia 11 Side-by-side: An early years art therapy group with a parental group alongside. Alice Rayment. UK Conclusion Julia Meyerowitz-Katz Australia and Dean Reddick UK. Notes on Contributors Index

Julia Meyerowitz-Katz is a Jungian Analyst and Art Psychotherapist in private practice in Sydney. Dean Reddick is an Art Psychotherapist with fifteen years’ experience working with children and families in a variety of settings. He currently works in a nursery school and a primary school in London.