New Book

Assessing and Treating Suicidal Thinking and Behaviors in Children and Adolescents

A Play Therapy Guide for Mental Health Professionals in Clinical and School-Based Settings

Assessing and Treating Suicidal Thinking and Behaviors in Children and Adolescents

A Play Therapy Guide for Mental Health Professionals in Clinical and School-Based Settings

Edited By Leslie W. Baker and Mary Ruth Cross
Copyright 2025

A guide for dealing with kids and teenagers who show up with overt or covert suicidal ideas, intentions, or thoughts.

The chapters concentrate on supporting parents, caregivers, families, and schools while also examining a variety of therapy modalities. The chapters include evidence-based methods including dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), and prescriptive play therapy in addition to emphasizing expressive therapies.

This book will equip expressive therapists, school-based counselors, and other clinicians who work with at-risk kids and teens from a variety of communities and backgrounds with the skills necessary to incorporate each child’s strengths, sources of distress, and available resources to create a treatment plan that is a developmentally appropriate treatment plan.

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Biographies

Leslie W. Baker is the CEO and owner of Therapy2Thrive® Ruby Hill Marriage and Family Counseling Center, an outpatient clinic in California.

Mary Ruth Cross is the CEO and owner of Treehouse Family Counseling Services, an outpatient clinic focused on play therapy treatment with children and families.

Endorsements

Courtesy of www.routledge.com/9781032410845

This is an incredibly timely and useful resource, one that will be helpful for the novice and seasoned practitioner and supervisor alike. Baker and Cross address assessment, treatment, and prevention, to deal with the obvious and hidden signs of suicidal thinking, preoccupation, and planning. Many of the chapters are written by Baker and Cross from a prescriptive play therapy lens. The other chapters feature renowned authors and cover racial and cultural differences and inclusion, age and gender, ethics, neurodivergence, psychiatry, countertransference, school settings and technology, and special issues utilizing expressive arts and play therapy approaches. This comprehensive book will not be a one-time read but rather a resource to return to again and again. For those of us on the front lines of treatment, as well as play therapy leaders teaching and mentoring the rising generations of play therapists, this is absolutely required reading.

Athena A. Drewes, PsyD, MA, MS, Ed, RPT-S

Founder and president emeritus of the New York Association for Play Therapy and former director of the Association for Play Therapy

This much-needed text addresses one of the most challenging and detrimental issues faced by clinicians working with children and adolescents. It is theoretically sound, comprehensive, and practical. Breaking new ground in the field, this publication will serve the needs of both novice and seasoned clinicians as they work with one of our most vulnerable populations.

Sueann Kenney-Noziska, MSW, LCSW, RPT-S

Play Therapy Corner, Las Cruces, New Mexico

This book fills an important gap in the mental health field, providing play therapists with a culturally inclusive look at how we can effectively address suicide in children from all backgrounds. The authors highlight the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on all young people, with a special focus on marginalized children. In applying the therapeutic powers of play through expressive therapies, the authors are providing play therapists with the skills and competencies they need to engage children, caregivers, and school-based professionals in combatting the epidemic of suicide in young people.
April Duncan, DSW, LCSW, RPT-STM

Founder and CEO of BMH Connect

“The searing pain of youth longing for connection in a world of pervasive disconnection fed by social media makes this book on the assessment, prevention, and treatment of suicidal behavior in youth essential. This book is comprehensive, pays close attention to cultural issues, and reflects the wisdom of both the editors and its distinguished contributors. Highly recommended!”
David A. Crenshaw, PhD, ABPP

Author and chief of clinical services at the Children's Home of Poughkeepsie

Cross and Baker offer mental health providers a map for approaching suicidal ideation in children and adolescents while demonstrating the therapeutic power of play as an effective treatment. I hope all mental health providers read this book to help destigmatize the topic and help ease the anxiety when working with this population. As Cross and Baker note in the book: ‘Because you (the child) are worth caring about.
Liliana Baylon, LMFT-S, RPT-S

Bilingual and bicultural therapist

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