1st Edition

The Creative Therapist in Practice

By Hillary Keeney, Bradford Keeney Copyright 2019
    242 Pages
    by Routledge

    242 Pages
    by Routledge

    In The Creative Therapist in Practice Hillary and Bradford Keeney present a radically innovative approach to the practice of therapy. Combining improvisational performing arts, action-oriented cybernetics, and ecstatic healing traditions, therapy is re-imagined as a creative transformative art.

    The book demonstrates the principles of creative therapy through numerous transcriptions of sessions conducted by the authors. It guides practitioners in conducting a three-part therapeutic performance: beginning with therapeutic techniques that broaden the context, igniting a session to creatively "cook," and finally concluding with a creative prescription for change that can be incorporated into the client’s daily living. As well as tracing the historical development of creative therapy, chapters explore what is possible for the future of therapy when practitioners leave behind conventional models and theoretical interpretations.

    Applying case examples of creative therapy to a wide range of presenting concerns, The Creative Therapist in Practice will be relevant to clinicians working across the field of mental health, including licensed psychotherapists, psychologists, and clinical social workers. Filled with inspiring anecdotes, unique interventions, and fascinating case illustrations, it will benefit anyone looking to become more naturally improvisational and wake up the creative life force in their sessions.

    Preface

    What Is Creative Therapy?

    Part I Practical Basics of Creative Therapy Know-How

    1. Structuring a Session as a Three-Act Play
    2. Making Enough Room for Creative Experience
    3. Enacting the Aesthetics of Change
    4. Returning the Client to the Everyday

    Part II Creative Therapy Case Studies

    5. Half a Beard with a Slice of Sour Cherry Pie
    6. The Lady with Two Violins
    7. Building a House for a Gentle Feather
    8. A True Fairy Tale
    9. 120 Centimeters from Sainthood
    10. The Intestinal Friend
    11. Tears for Homeopathic Marmalade
    12. Collecting Jars of Air
    13. Sharing the Bitterness Until Death Do Us Part
    14. A Gypsy Band Remembers Mother’s Favorite Song
    15. Our Love Is Here to Stay
    16. The Life Box
    17. The Lightning King
    18. The Altar of Mistakes

    Part III Looking Back and Dreaming Forward

    19. The Historical Development of Creative Therapy
    20. Dreaming the Performance Art of Therapeutic Change

    Biography

    Hillary Keeney, PhD, is Director, Institute for Creative Therapy, Distinguished Visiting Professor at Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, and Associate Editor of the journal, Dance, Movement, and Spiritualities.

    Bradford Keeney, PhD, is the former director of several clinical doctoral programs, an improvisational pianist, and an explorer of creative approaches to psychotherapy.


     

    "This book brought me great surprise and delight as the Keeneys, the audacious creative therapists of our time, tread where most therapists fear to go. Their innovative interventions seem magical, but are here clearly shown as inspired by novel ideas and powerful techniques that activate change. This book will truly inspire and challenge you to change how you perform and reform your practice."

    PEGGY PAPP, LCSW, a founder of family therapy and faculty, Ackerman Institute for the Family

    "Goethe wrote: "All theory, dear friend, is gray; but the golden tree of life springs ever green." Hillary and Brad offer "the wake-up zap, the exuberant tap, and the rhyming rap" to add zing and swing to make your sessions sing. Inspired by Carl Whitaker, Milton Erickson, and Gregory Bateson, as well as improvisational performance and healing traditions around the world, The Creative Therapist in Practice invites clinicians and their clients into greater aliveness, hope, love, healing and health. Roll over, Beethoven, the Keeneys are in the house!"

    MICHAEL F. HOYT, PhD, Author/editor, Brief Therapy and Beyond, Therapist Stories of Inspiration, Passion, and Renewal, and Single-Session Therapy by Walk-In or Appointment.

    "The Keeneys have created a beautiful and magical book. Its graceful blend of imagination and wisdom brings a creative therapeutic performance that goes far beyond interpretation. Watch out, this rich counter-therapy-culture message with its long lasting effect deserves widespread attention!"

    DAVID KEITH, MD, Professor of Psychiatry and Family Medicine, Director of Family Therapy, SUNY Upstate Medical University, and author of Continuing the Experiential Approach of Carl Whitaker: Process, Practice, and Magic.

    "I don’t know how to adequately convey that the Keeneys are true to the work of Milton H. Erickson."


    BETTY ALICE ERICKSON, MS, International teacher of psychotherapy

    "A thirst quenching revitalization of the experiential approach to eliciting change that is based on evocative orientations, arousal states, and artistic improvisation. The Keeneys’ innovations turn the parched earth of academic psychotherapy into an oasis for both the client and the clinician."

    JEFFREY K. ZEIG, PhD, The Milton H. Erickson Foundation

    "The Keeneys have the gift of helping people change. As authentic healers with impeccable scholarship, they bring us inside the heart of transformation and the soul of exuberant, creative living."

    PAUL TRACHTMAN, Former Science Editor, Smithsonian Magazine

    "Creative therapy brings the excitement and surprise found in the improvised performance of theatre, poetry, dance, and music. This is not a theory; it is a radical call for the kind of experience that changes lives. Move over, Shiva, the Keeneys are recreating therapy!"

    STEPHEN LANKTON, LCSW, DAHB, FASCH, Editor-in-Chief, American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis and author, The Answer Within and Tools of Intention