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March 28, 2013

ULM professors deemed "masters of invention" with release of new therapy book

The newest work by faculty in the University of Louisiana at Monroe’s Marriage and Family Therapy program has been called “a page-packed monument to unscripted change.”

Dr. Hillary Keeney, adjunct faculty in ULM's Marriage and Family Therapy program, and Dr. Bradford Keeney, professor and Hanna Spyker Eminent Scholars Chair in Education, published
“Creative Therapeutic Technique: Skills for the Art of Bringing Forth Change.”

The book was published by Zeig, Tucker, and Theisen.

Stephen Lankton, editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, describes the Keeneys’ new book as “a page-packed monument to unscripted change! You won't put it down once you begin as it teaches how to amplify experiential resources rather than focus on either problems or solutions. The book’s creative voice alone will inspire therapists to pull the weeds out of any garden-variety approach and let flowers of change blossom and grow for both them and their clients.”

According to the Keeneys, their perspective holds that professionals can fill up on theory—indeed, on many theories—at the expense of developing the performance skills that are the foundation of effective therapy.

They argue that creative performance technique, rather than theory, is primary. Thus their new book is appropriate for any practitioner no matter what school of therapy to which they belong. 

The book’s publishers describe their work as “a rare combination of intellectual depth and jump-off-the-page enthusiasm.

‘Creative Therapeutic Technique’ is a practical guide that knocks the familiar staid therapeutic stance on its ear, suggesting instead an approach that allows therapists to always be ready and able to meet clients where they are—and then uncover fresh and vital ways to get them where they long to be.”

Comparing the Keeneys' contribution to the historically important work of Milton H. Erickson, renowned therapist Betty Alice Erickson proposes that they offer “improvisation and utilization at its best, delivering solidly based effective therapy in a book you can't put down!” 

In her review, Peggy Papp, one of the founders of family therapy and the women’s movement in family therapy, writes:  “If you are looking for new inspiration to enliven your clinical practice, this is the book to read. The Keeneys are masters of invention. They create a new therapeutic context and lay out specific ways for therapists to give free rein to their own imagination and develop their unique creativity.”

The Keeneys will present their new work this fall in a keynote address at an international family therapy conference held in Santiago, Chile.

The book will be available in April on amazon.com.

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