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’re born, we rely on our hands to perceive the world. It’s through touch that we communicate with our primary caregivers and attain an abiding sense of love and security. In Clay Field therapy, client children work with clay and water in a rectangular box. The therapeutic focus is not on object creation, but on the touch connection with the clay as a symbolic external world. Movement, touch, and sensory feedback that have long been out of reach are actualized through the creative process, enabling the child to heal past wounds and regain a more fulfilling 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. She discusses the theory and practice of Clay Field therapy using dozens of case examples and more than 200 images.
 
Working within a fun, safe, and trusting environment, children respond with their embodied braced, chaotic, or dissociated structures of the past, but are then able to foster 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--working with a Clay Field can reach even the earliest developmental trauma events, repairing their damage through the haptic hands-brain connection.

CORNELIA ELBRECHT is a leader in groundbreaking art therapy techniques with a particular focus on healing trauma. An art therapist with over 40 years' experience, she is a renowned author and educator, and the Founder and Director of the Institute for Sensorimotor Art Therapy.

She studied at the School for Initiatic Therapy in the Black Forest, Germany and holds degrees in fine arts and arts education along with extensive postgraduate training in Jungian and Gestalt Therapy, Bioenergetics, and at the Somatic Experiencing Training Institute.

Best known for her cutting edge work with guided drawing and clay field therapy, she holds regular workshops around the world and at Claerwen Retreat in Apollo Bay, Australia, an internationally respected arts therapy education facility. Author of numerous books, she runs accredited online courses for art therapists, educators and mental health professionals looking to understand a body focused art therapy approach to trauma therapy.