Healing Through Play Using the Oaklander Model Part 2: More Treasures: A Guidebook for Therapists and Counselors Working with Children, Adolescents and Families
Karen Fried PsyD LMFT & Christine McKenna LMFT, LPCC
"Even more treasures bring the healing power of play to every child."
This second edition of the Healing Through Play guidebook, offers even more treasures from Violet Oaklander's personal files and groundbreaking online tools now used in over 114 countries and throughout the USA. Designed for both telehealth and in-person therapy, it combines fresh interventions with deeper Oaklander Model theory to help therapists create individualized, effective treatment plans. Inspiring, practical, and innovative-this book ensures the healing power of play is more accessible than ever.
Windows to Our Practice: Therapists Inspired by Violet Oaklander Tell Their Stories
Karen Fried PsyD LMFT
Windows to Our Practice is a powerful collection of personal essays from child therapists across the globe—each inspired by the pioneering work of Violet Oaklander and her integrative Gestalt therapy model. Set against the backdrop of world events, this book captures the raw, heartfelt reflections of therapists navigating grief, trauma, and connection, while bringing their own cultural identities and lived experiences into the therapy room.
Featuring voices from Bosnia to Kenya, the UK to Colombia, and beyond, these stories reveal how play therapy, art, and authenticity help children heal and thrive. Whether you're a practicing therapist, a student of psychology, or a reader drawn to personal journeys of resilience and transformation, this volume offers wisdom, inspiration, and deep humanity.
A tribute to Violet Oaklander’s legacy, this book is a must-read for anyone who inspired by the healing power of connection.
Playful Parenting: Building Secure Attachment & Resilience Inspired by the Oaklander Method
Karen Fried PsyD LMFT
Healing Connections invites you to discover the power of playful interactions and reflective practices to address parenting difficulties and enable secure attachment and emotional resilience. Developed by therapist Dr. Karen Fried, Playful Parenting draws from the pioneering Oaklander Method and decades of research on attachment and communication. This flexible 10-session program empowers parents and caregivers with innovative, fun tools to navigate family complexities and increase emotional literacy, on their own or guided by a therapist or counselor.
By weaving expert insights and practical exercises into an adaptable, step-by-step parenting guide, the sessions enable understanding your own family of origin, and comprehending and managing your child’s expressions of their emotions, including anger. Whether you are a single parent, co-parent, or part of a larger caregiving team, this playbook can help you enhance connectedness and emotional security.
Through creative activities, interactive discussions, and reflective exercises, Healing Connections encourages parents and caregivers to embrace their unique strengths and histories so they can reimagine their relationships with their children. The sessions focus on understanding family dynamics; fostering secure attachment; expressing strong emotions; and engaging activities that let you experience the healing power of play. Playful Parenting blends information, fun, self-expression, and reflection—while still addressing issues such as intergenerational trauma, co-parenting conflicts, and loss. Healing Connections offers strategies and support for children’s greatest resource: you who care for them.
Healing Through Play Using the Oaklander Model: A Guidebook for Therapists & Counselors Working with Children, Adolescents and Families
Karen Fried PsyD LMFT & Christine McKenna LMFT LPCC
We created this guidebook to serve as a companion to the Oaklander Training Program Violet developed after publishing Windows to Our Children. Child and adolescent therapists came from all over the world to attend her life-changing two-week intensive workshops in Santa Barbara, California. This training continues in Santa Monica, California (led by Karen Fried) and in other United States and international venues by facilitators whom Violet trained, including Lynn Stadler and Peter Mortola. While this guidebook is meant to be used by therapists who have participated in Violet's training process, that experience is not a requirement. Here, we outline Violet's thinking as well as some of her classic experiential exercises for you to use when a child or adolescent comes to therapy. Introduction to the model includes how to conduct a first session and how to take developmental factors into account. The guide then explains key elements of Violet's signature focus on a young client's ability to contact (inwardly and outwardly), and details how you can enable youngsters at any developmental stage to develop healthy contact functions and to strengthen their sense of self. In addition, this guidebook outlines Violet's approach to the emotions-including the universal but often-misunderstood ones of anger and aggressive energy that can be challenging to handle in a therapy session. To support you in doing so, the guidebook leads you, step by step, through many of her most effective projective techniques, such as the Safe Place and Rosebush drawings and working with clay, sand tray, and puppets. Finally, it lays out the self-nurturing process, often arising at the end of therapy, and explicates Violet's insights on developmental issues impacting termination for you to apply in your own practice. Thus we present Violet's work and, with her blessing, have endeavored to make it even more accessible to therapists. Whether we cite her words verbatim or not, Violet's knowledge, wisdom, and deep love of young people inspires every line. We hope you enjoy using this guidebook as much as we have enjoyed composing it.
Sanando a través del Juego usando el Modelo Oaklander: Una guía para terapeutas y consejeros que trabajan con niños, adolescentes y familias (Spanish Edition)
Karen Fried PsyD LMFT & Christine McKenna LMFT LPCC
Creamos esta guía para que sirva como complemento del Programa de entrenamiento Oaklander que Violet desarrolló después de publicar Ventanas a nuestros niños (Windows to Our Children). Terapeutas de niños y adolescentes vinieron de todo el mundo a recibir sus talleres intensivos que les cambiaron la vida en Santa Bárbara, California. Esta capacitación continúa en Santa Mónica, California (dirigida por Karen Fried) y en otros lugares de los Estados Unidos y lugares internacionales por facilitadores que Violet capacitó, incluidos Lynn Stadler y Peter Mortola.Si bien esta guía está destinada a terapeutas que hayan participado en el proceso de capacitación de Violet, esa experiencia no es un requisito. Aquí, describimos el pensamiento de Violet, así como algunos de sus ejercicios experienciales clásicos para que los use cuando un niño o adolescente acuda a terapia. La introducción al modelo incluye cómo realizar una primera sesión y cómo tener en cuenta los factores de desarrollo. Luego, la guía explica los elementos clave del enfoque característico de Violet en la capacidad de un cliente joven para comunicarse (hacia adentro y hacia afuera), y detalla cómo puede ayudar a los jóvenes en cualquier etapa del desarrollo a desarrollar funciones de contacto saludables y fortalecer su sentido de sí mismos. Además, esta guía describe el enfoque de Violet hacia las emociones, incluidas las universales, pero a menudo incomprendidas, de ira y energía agresiva que pueden ser difíciles de manejar en una sesión de terapia. Para ayudarlo a hacerlo, la guía lo orienta, paso a paso, a través de muchas de sus técnicas proyectivas más efectivas, como los dibujos de Lugar Seguro, El Rosal, el trabajo con arcilla, bandeja de arena y títeres. Finalmente, presenta el proceso de autocuidado, que a menudo surge al final de la terapia, y explica las ideas de Violet sobre los problemas del desarrollo que impactan la terminación para que lo aplique en su propia práctica. Así presentamos el trabajo de Violet y, con su bendición, nos hemos esforzado por hacerlo aún más accesible para los terapeutas. Ya sea que citemos sus palabras textualmente o no, el conocimiento, la sabiduría y el profundo amor de Violet por los jóvenes inspira cada línea. Esperamos que disfrute usar esta guía tanto como nosotros disfrutamos componiéndola.
Executive Functioning Workbook
2nd Edition
Karen Fried PsyD LMFT & Melissa Mullin, Ph.D.
Are you tired of traditional checklists that fall short in developing strong Executive Functioning skills in your students? Look no further! Karen Fried, Psy.D., and Melissa Mullin, Ph.D., bring over 20 years of experience in remediating students' learning difficulties to the new 2nd Edition Executive Functioning Workbook.
Holistic Approach: Building executive functioning skills goes beyond checklists. Our program focuses on developing a solid sense of self and understanding other, key elements for self-regulation.
Comprehensive Tools: Our workbook offers a unique blend of engaging creative exercises and metacognitive prompts. These exercises boost self-concept and social-emotional abilities, while prompts, checklists, charts, and study plans provide structure for mastering executive functioning capabilities.
Empower Independence: Our program empowers students to become self-motivated learners with robust executive functioning skills. They'll learn to:
STOP and IMAGINE
THINK and PLAN
DO and REVIEW
CHECK and TURN IN
Witness the Transformation: See your students evolve into self-motivated learners with robust Executive Functioning skills!
About the Authors:Karen Fried and Melissa Mullin founded the K&M Center, an educational institution dedicated to transforming the lives of neurodivergent children and adolescents. Their innovative approach combined personalized, evidence-based strategies and a deep understanding of individual learning profiles to help students unlock their full potential. Now consultants to those serving neurodiverse students, they have written the 2nd edition of their book on Executive Functioning: Executive Functioning Workbook: Putting the Puzzle Pieces Together. This book teaches the fundamental skills of executive functioning using a holistic and experiential approach. Other publications by Karen Fried and Melissa Mullin: The Adult Executive Functioning Workbook, A Maze the Brain, Flexible Thinking Program, Think, Talk, Laugh and By The Rules: One Syllable Spelling.
Learn more at www.kandmcenter.com and empower your students for success!
Adult Executive Functioning Workbook
Karen Fried PsyD LMFT & Melissa Mullin, Ph.D.
Many college students and young adults struggle with daily tasks that affect their ability to plan, start, and finish work. This often means they’re lacking the executive functioning skills needed to be effective in their social, school and work lives. Research shows these brain-based skills can be taught. Skills covered this workbook include: • Self-assessment in Executive Functioning skills • Setting goals • Setting and maintaining an organized workspace • Using a planner to track daily, weekly, and long-term projects • Accurately estimating how long tasks will take • Scheduling time for working towards your goals • Breaking down long-term projects into daily tasks • Active reading and study skills • Taking useful notes • Exam preparation and exam-taking strategies • Tracking progress and setting new goalsThe Adult Executive Functioning program guides you to understand what keeps you from reaching your goals and teaches you to learn how to identify your goals and challenges and boost your productivity.