"Transforming Troubled Children, Teens, and Their Families offers an alternative vision of clinical practice to the dominant medical model, in which childhood 'disorders' are treated like diseases in need of diagnosis and 'treatment'. Instead, the book sets out a model of assessment and healing for children and families, integrating ideas from attachment theory, systemic thinking, psychodynamic therapy and humanistic approaches. The approach is inclusive, draws on a range of evidence, and is non-pathologising, with an emphasis on supportive interventions. Mones is able to draw on a wealth of clinical experience and provides many vignettes to illustrate his approach. The author has a natural style of writing which will appeal to therapists looking for ideas that can directly inform their clinical practice, based on a fundamental respect for troubled children and their families."
Nick Midgley, PsychD, Director of Developmental Psychology and Clinical Practice Program Anna Freud Centre and University College London. Transforming Troubled Children, Teens, and Their Families is an essential tool for anyone using IFS with children and adolescents. Art guides practitioners through the complex task of working with young people in the context of their surroundings. He clearly illustrates how a clinician can shift from working within the child’s internal system to their external system(s) and back again. Art’s wisdom and compassion flow from the pages.
Pamela K. Krause, LCSW, Private Practitioner and Senior Lead Trainer for the Center for Selfleadership "Art Mones has brilliantly bridged the gap between the IFS model and family therapy. He shows us how to work with the internal and external (i.e., family) systems from the IFS perspective to bring balance and harmony to our relationships. He applies this perspective to developmental and attachment theories in a way that provides a clear "roadmap" to creating healthy children and healthy relationships. Art also provides a template for integrating various models of family therapy from an IFS perspective. As an IFS trainer and professor of marriage and family therapy, I will be using this book as a primary source of teaching family therapy."
Ralph S. Cohen, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Marriage and Family Therapy Program, IFS Lead Trainer, Central Connecticut State University