Emotional Literacy for Adolescent Mental Health

Adolescent mental health is a perennial concern. Parents, teachers, youth counsellors, social workers, psychologists and other professionals are all working to find ways to support young people in their quest to develop self-confidence, a positive outlook and strong mental health. In Emotional Literacy for Adolescent Mental Health, Dr Patricia Sherwood recognises that traditional talk therapy may not always be the best approach. Adolescence is defined as a time when personal privacy is important and verbal communication is often confined to peers in whom young people feel they can trust. This groundbreaking book therefore offers a diversity of non-verbal experiential exercises, skills and interventions for working with adolescents who may be facing particular challenges at a complex time in their lives. The activities are drawn from the artistic therapies, including drama and movement, clay therapy, and sand play as well as meditation, nature-based and animal-assisted therapies. These practical methodologies and approaches are shown to be beneficial when addressing a range of adolescent mental health conditions such as low self-esteem, self-judgement, anxiety, depression, anger, addiction, self-harm, psychosis and despair.