In describing this presentation, Dr. Leibowitz says, “I believe that open and playful communication between children and their grown-ups is a key component to fostering healthy development. Feeling a need to share this understanding with more of the adults in kids’ lives than I could reach in my private practice, I wrote and published two children’s books that model reflection, mentalization, and open emotion communication. My goal was to help children and their grown-ups talk and reflect together about tough emotional moments and to normalize the full range of emotions we all experience — ideas that reflect, from my perspective, the important takeaways from Attachment Theory.
Thus, through these books, I am attempting to communicate my understanding of Attachment Theory and how I apply it to the everyday clinical and parent-guidance work I do. In this presentation, I will read one of the books, share my process of engaging playfully to create the books, and talk about the Attachment Theory-related concepts that I hope the books illustrate.”
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Jill Leibowitz, PsyD, is a licensed clinical psychologist with over 25 years of experience working with children, adolescents, adults, and families in her New York City private practice. She specializes in play therapy, psychotherapy, parenting support, and parent-child work, and she is a member of the Anni Bergman Parent-Infant Home Visiting Program. In addition to her clinical practice, Dr. Leibowitz teaches and supervises graduate and post-graduate students at several New York universities and institutes. She is the author of The Untold Stories of Itsy Bitsy, a children’s book series, and has contributed to blogs, podcasts, and academic journals on topics related to children’s emotional development, play and emotional literacy.
Learning Objectives:
To gain an appreciation for the central role of playful engagement in our clinical work and in development more generally.
To apply reflective, open communication practices to everyday, real-life scenarios that occur between children and their grown-ups.
To learn about one individual’s process of children’s book publishing and marketing.