Bonnie Rude-Weisman, Using Rocks as Therapeutic Tools (2008)
non-member price: $65
student price: $50
Bonnie Rude-Weisman
Everybody Needs a Rock: Using Rocks as Therapeutic Tools for Children and Adolescents
Like the title of Byrd Baylor’s Book "Everybody Needs a Rock," I have come to believe that rocks are extremely powerful and effective tools of therapy. I have used rocks successfully with adults, adolescents, and children alike as symbols of their pain, metaphors for their strength, and a talisman for their healing. This workshop will provide participants with the opportunity to explore how rocks can be integrated into their practice.
In consultation with other clinicians, I have discovered many therapists who believe in the power of rocks with all age groups. Many participants will be familiar with "worry stones." Rubbing the smooth, solid surface of a rock can prove calming to many individuals. However. rocks can be used far more broadly than the more scripted use of worry stones. Drawing on the work of Michael White, I have found that an individual’s pain can be effectively externalized using rocks. Rocks can also be a metaphor for the strength the individual needs to overcome their pain. Symbols derived from various cultures can be painted, drawn or etched on a rock for the individual to carry.
Learning Objectives:
1) understand the externalization strategies of Michael White using rocks,
2)develop a "pictionary" of various sybols that can be incorporated in their work.
Bonnie Rude-Weisman has been a registered clinical psycholgist in Alberta since 1985. She has worked previously with children, adolescents, and families as a child welfare worker, trained as a play therapist, and presented & taught graduate workshops and courses in the area of clinical treatment stategies and expressive play strategies. She was excited to take part in presenting play therapy concepts with psychology professors at Universities throughout Indonesia.