Book of the Month April 2019 - Healing Relational Trauma with Attachment-Focused Interventions. Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy with Children and Families

Healing Relational Trauma with Attachment-Focused Interventions. Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy with Children and Families
Daniel A. Hughes, Kim S. Golding & Julie Hudson (2019)

I work as a Consultant Clinical Psychologist with fostered and adopted children.  This book landed into my hands as I approached the end of the Practicum to become a Certified Practitioner in Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP).  And, wow, what a wonderful resource to have.  Its like having a DDP Consultant on hand!
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This is a ‘must have’ resource for anyone who wants to learn about DDP and develop their practice of it.  It begins logically with chapters that explain the guiding principles, theory and what is known about the neurobiology of attachment and developmental trauma.  It explains PACE (which stands for Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity and Empathy) as the attitude which helps to provide children with a foundation for safe and healthy relationships.  The experience of DDP is described.  One chapter addresses the ‘nuts and bolts’ of DDP; wisdom that I wish I’d had when I first began practising with this model.  Basically, you are told everything that you need to know to get started with DDP in a practical way. 

There is a chapter on working with parents therapeutically and helping them to develop parenting that conveys PACE.  The book then explains how Dyadic Developmental Practice can be used to create safe settings.  There is an emphasis on thinking about a child’s wider system and network, such as education, social work teams and mental services.  This chapter shows how DDP is more than a psychotherapy.  DDP is a framework for professional practice.  It is a framework for creating strong unified and connected teams around a child in which a shared understanding of the child can be explored and created.  This networking approach is essential for helping children to feel safe, understood and regulated, and it can provide the foundation for successful psychotherapy.  The book explores DDP in residential care, fostering and adoption, individual therapy.  Specific populations are focused upon such as children with learning disabilities, children who show violence to parents and adolescents.  The combining of Theraplay and DDP is described.  The experience of having supervision for developing one’s own DDP practice is described.  To conclude, the book finishes with a chapter on the evidence base.   

This book packs a lot of information into its 335 pages.  It is aimed at professionals although it has little jargon in it so would be accessible to a wider audience.  It is very easy to read and the inclusion of many powerful case examples bring the concepts and ideas to life. 

As I finished reading this book, I was delighted to successfully complete the DDP Practicum and become a Certified Practitioner.  I’m confident that this book had helped me in those final stages by giving me knowledge, support and motivation.  It’ll certainly be a book that I keep accessible, especially when I need reminding of how to maintain a PACEful approach in my work. 
 
Review by:
Dr Helen Rodwell, Consultant Clinical Psychologist,
Co-author of: Parenting with Theraplay; An Introduction to Autism for Adoptive and Foster Families; CoramBaaf Good Practice Guide on Supporting the Mental Health of Looked After and Adopted Children. 

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