By NCH Children and Families Project.
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
£15.95, ISBN 1 84310 009 6

At best, therapeutic services for sexually abused children and their families are in short supply and often restricted to short-term intervention. At worst, they can be misattuned to the needs of traumatised children and their carers. Alternatives often rely on small specialist projects provided by the voluntary sector. This account of the work of one such project highlights the reparative value of post-protection therapy.

The team draws on person-centred and trauma frameworks to inform creative approaches such as art work, drama, story telling and poetry. Their work is predicated on the provision of a safe therapeutic space and on trust in the capacity of individual children and adults to mobilise their inner strength. Case examples and material contributed by service users illustrate how, in a supportive environment, lives fragmented by trauma can become more whole.

This book is clearly written, making it accessible for a wide range of professionals and service users. Specialist projects like this one deserve to influence policy and the allocation of resources.  

Sue Richardson is a psychotherapist, trainer and co-author/editor of Creative Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Jessica Kingsley, 2001)