WEBSITES
1. Anger Management for KS3 – includes free download of two sample lesson plans, and many of the other plans are useful for groupwork, which some of us run. There is a content list on site.
2. Children can learn to handle anger appears on the psych-net mental health site and puts over some good help.
3. This website has some techniques and articles on anger that can give us ideas for work with a variety of different youngsters. Have a search round the site on the anger links (anchors, victim thinking etc) and something may be helpful.
4. This article offers tips which parents may find useful while we are seeing their child.
5. This article is excerpted from a book for helping parents manage angry children. If we work with families, the whole book is relevant, of course.
6. This page has good advice to pass on to parents.
BOOKS
Working with Anger and Young People
Nick Luxmoore
Jessica Kingsley Publishers 2006
ISBN 978-1843104660
Nick expertly pulls out from behind the overt anger the kind of thing it is being used as a defence against, including shame, feeling small, feeling invisible, hurt, rejected love, loss, feeling ugly, feeling empty; and goes on to examine unexpressed anger, explosive anger, anger and… attachment, disappointment, identity and envy – with a look at adult anger among professionals. If we don’t want to stick on a plaster, this is the book to read. Even if a plaster is still needed for first aid initially.
Hot Stuff to Help Kids Chill Out
The Anger Management Book
Jerry Wilde
LGR Publishing 1997
ISBN 978-0965761000
(also available: More Hot Stuff..)
Fifty-eight pages of workbook and reading in ordinary-sized paperback format. He’s funny and correct – and the typeface is large enough to at least not put kids off reading it. That’s teenagers, actually. I don’t think younger kids will read it. Endorsed by Albert Ellis with a CBT-like basis!
Anger Management Games for Children
Deborah Plummer
Jessica Kingsley Publishers 2008
ISBN 978-1843106289
For those who work with 5s-12s: the games are varied but mostly need a group for effective use. It’s definitely worth a look.
How to take the Grrrr out of Anger
Elizabeth Verdick and Marjorie Lisovskis
Free Spirit Publishing 2003
ISBN 978-1575421178
Written to the young person, this book obviously needs some reading ability and motivation. But it could be read and discussed together in part, or in total over several sessions. Some pages are copiable, and many of the ideas will be useful aside from the book. Printed in two-tone blue and black.
A Volcano in my Tummy
Helping Children to Handle Anger
Eliane Whitehouse and Warwick Pudney
New Society Publishers 1997
ISBN 978-0865713499
This is another old favourite and quite useful for parents too. No one can really tell us how to do anger in therapy because there is always a cause and therefore always different help that is needed, but this is one more resource that may be useful in some way, with some child or parent.
Are you strong enough to keep your temper?
Chris Williams
Five Areas 2008
ISBN 978-1906564063
Written for adults but very adaptable for older young people.
Smasher
Margot Sunderland
Hinton House 2008
ISBN 978-1906531102
An illustrated story for hurting children who are acting out aggressively. The protagonist, Simon Asher (“Smasher”) is 14 years old, and will therefore appeal to clients who are slightly younger – children usually prefer the hero to be older than themselves. The story is on the left of each spread, a shortened “speech bubble” version on the right. It tells of a guy called Gor who takes Simon on a fantasy ride and shows him his options.
OTHER RESOURCES
Anger Control Game
Available from Incentive Publishing – this firm has a long list of anger-related items, although not all are suitable for one-to-one-counsellors. Some are better for groupwork. This works with both – and involves question cards that require thought and discussion to win chips. Their webpage has the wrong illustration. See here for the correct one and more detail! Many people say the Angry Monster Machine Game (also available from Incentive Plus) is good for younger children, though I don’t have it myself. I do know that playing games in therapy brings rich rewards in progress.
Go Go Diego
For fun, to start off the conversation with younger kids: an online variation of hangman where the phrases are about anger and calming and you have to get Diego to the park before the storm hits. Give it a try – you may find a use for it if you have a laptop available in session!
Where the Wild Things Are
This six-minute video on You Tube is great for using with children you might not wish to read the original book with – either because they’d feel it too “young” or because watching videos is more “cool”. There are so many links to be made in conversation about how things happen in the story that I list it here simply because one of us may find it just the thing. With one child of 10, it was exactly what I needed.
