Giant Steps: Therapeutic Innovations in Child Mental Health

"Lee Combrinck-Graham's wisdom and diverse experience at all levels - therapist, advocate, and administrator - shine through every page of this challenging and rewarding book. Her rich case material and provocative ideas show in precise detail how chaotic and compartmentalized systems can work together to promote children's well-being. Giant Steps should be read by all human service professionals who work with troubled and difficult children."- Theodora Ooms, MSW, Director, Family Impact Seminar, AAMFT Foundation In the children's game of "giant steps" the winner is the one who dares to make the boldest moves. So must it be in child mental health, claims psychiatrist Lee Combrinck-Graham. One of the field's most original thinkers, Combrinck-Graham argues that the tendency to focus on individual psychopathology and neglect the larger contexts of childhood has led professionals to fail those children most at risk. She proposes four giant steps - considering alternate models of reality, seeking out patterns, searching for competence, and working within larger systems - as a powerful new way to promote the social, psychological and physical well-being of children. For example, considering a family systems model rather than a biomedical one can make the difference between hospitalizing a disturbed child and empowering family, friends, and teachers to help keep him at home. Numerous moving case examples vividly document Combrinck-Graham's approach to justice, child welfare, education, and the mental health system itself. Compassionate and practical, GIANT STEPS offers workable strategies for all who deal with children and families.