Healing Trauma in Children with Clay Field Therapy

The first book of its kind on treating trauma in children through creative play with clay, written by a leading voice in the field of art therapy.

From the moment we are born, we rely on our hands and fingers to perceive the world. It is through touch and sensation that we communicate with our primary givers, attaining an abiding sense of love and security. In Clay Field therapy, patients work with clay and water in a rectangular box to access memories and feelings that have long been out of reach. Movement, breath and sensation are actualized through the creative process, thereby enabling the patient to heal past wounds and regain a deeper sense of self.

Author and therapist Cornelia Elbrecht has been a leader in groundbreaking art therapy techniques for over 40 years. In Healing Trauma in Children with Clay Field Therapy, she shows how embodied expression within the clay field can be an effective tool in treating children suffering the mental, emotional, and physical effects of trauma. Working within a safe and trusting environment, children learn to retrieve the painful or dissociated structures of the past, fostering new sensorimotor experiences that enhance self-esteem, empowerment, and a restoration of developmental deficits.

Child therapists will find this book to be a valuable tool. The simplicity of working with a clay field can repair even the earliest or most repressed traumatic events. Elbrecht discusses the theory and practice of clay field therapy using dozens of case examples and over 200 images.