Letters to Children in Family Therapy: A Narrative Approach

The text is a quick and easy read, yet achieves the goal of wetting the reader's appetite to use letter writing when working with children...an excellent addition for the library of any inspiring and strengths based therapist.' -Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry It is testament enough to Marner's belief in the impact of letters that the book itself takes the form of a series of letters to a friend and psychologist who is interested in narrative approaches and post-sessional letter writing. I will confess to having to suspend my initial scepticism about his literary device, but I was soon won over. The form of the book is very engaging and conveys a clear excitement in this therapeutic model that is at once inspiring, challenging and moving... A particular strength of this book is that family therapists of all persuasions will recognise elements of the work described. Marner's theoretical history is woven into his work, this and the conversational style in which it is presented, make the narrative ideas presented accessible. Marner succeeds therefore in inspiring and intriguing without demanding that all previous ideas be thrown away. As such I would have no hesitation in recommending this book to both experienced and recently trained therapists alike.' - Jaime Craig, Journal of Family Therapy As a post-sessional support to children in family therapy, Torben Marner writes letters to them. In this book he explains the theory behind this practice and how he incorporates it into his use of a narrative approach to family therapy. This approach uses stories as a means of making problems more manageable. Letters to Children in Family Therapy includes the correspondence between Marner and a number of children who have presented with problems varying from nightmares to anorexia. It shows how the extra encouragement from the therapist helps the child to overcome his or her particular monster or problem externalized as a persecuting phenomenon. The book will stimulate therapists to be creative in their work with children, and provide an accessible and practical way of offering post-sessional support.