Kids' Club Letters: Narrative Tools for Stimulating Process and Dialogue in Therapy Groups for Children and Adolescents

Kids' Club Letters provides an innovative approach to group psychotherapy for school-aged children who experience a range of social and emotional problems. A narrative therapy approach is adapted, taking the form of letters written by the therapist in the voice of a child who is asking for advice about interpersonal or emotional problems. The child in the letter is asking for guidance from the participants in the group. These letters were devised and written for the purpose of structuring responses in group psychotherapy, allowing the participants to address relevant issues for them individually and at the group level. The children in the groups had previously experienced difficulty discussing these issues spontaneously. Hence the 'Dear Group' letter format was born. The children did not know that the therapist had written the letters.

Georgia A. DeGangi, PhD, OTR, FAOTA, is a clinical psychologist and an occupational therapist in private practice at ITS: PALSS (Integrated Therapy Services: Psychological and Learning Support Services) in Kensington, Maryland. She has extensive experience working with infants, children, and their families. Marc A. Nemiroff, PhD, is Co-Chair of the Infant/Young Child Mental Health Training Program at the Washington School of Psychiatry in Washington, D.C. In his private practice, he specializes in the treatment of pre-school and early elementary grade children.