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Kenneth Barish's book How to Be a Better Child Therapist: An Integrative Model for Therapeutic Change is aptly named. It is hard to imagine that after reading it, child therapists, either in their early career or otherwise, would not have absorbed enough of Barish's unique perspective and/or useful techniques to have become better child therapists. At the same time, the book goes beyond the purview of the title, providing deeply thoughtful insights into what motivates children, what they need, how they grow, and how to help them do so in the most adaptive and beneficial ways within a family system. Children in this book are seen not just as patients but as children, and Barish himself is so down-to-earth and accessible in his writing that his humanity shines through at every instant. As a result, although this book is about the therapeutic treatment of children, it reaches into a more basic realm of simply being about the emotional needs of humans and how to support and empathize with children in their efforts to get those needs met.
Barish himself introduces the book, providing a cohesive and succinct explanation of his own background and the clinical experiences that inspired him to write the book. His discussion of his own trajectory as a therapist leads him to advocate for a clinical approach that goes beyond individual schools of thought and theoretical orientations. The introduction also initiates the reader into Barish's dual focus on both the science and, particularly, the art of therapy.
Three parts follow the introduction. Together, these three parts present a comprehensive perspective on how child development can go awry and how therapeutic interventions and manageable changes in the home environment can get it back on track. Part 1 introduces Barish's perspective on child development and forms the foundation for the two later intervention-focused sections. In Part 2 Barish discusses the 10 therapeutic principles that he believes collectively make up the me