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Working with difficult-to-engage clients can be frustrating and challenging, even for seasoned clinicians. The challenge of working with younger clients in therapy can be further compounded by their fear of entering therapy, their lack of control over the decision to attend therapy, their feeling of being scapegoated for family problems, their lack of motivation for treatment, and their developmental capacity which can make it difficult for them to respond to traditional talk-therapy.

The first step in working with hard-to-engage clients is understanding the reasons underlying what has been called “resistance.” The second step involves engaging clients in the therapeutic process. Best-selling author and one of Canada’s foremost presenters on childhood trauma, Liana Lowenstein will outline the factors that underlie engaging hard-to-reach children and families. She will present tips, tricks, and techniques to engage children, adolescents, and parents in therapy and maximize potential for change. Emphasis will be on play-based, expressive arts techniques for use with preschool, school-aged, and adolescent clients. This will include therapeutic games, art, music, and stories. Strategies for engaging parents in therapy will be outlined, as well as activities for use in child-focused family therapy sessions.

The techniques will be applied to specific clinical examples to illustrate how they can build rapport, facilitate open communication, and help the client work through treatment goals.

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