Children under six and-a-half years are being seen in group therapy in on-site sessions at day care centers and nursery schools in New York. A general description of this program and the wide range of children it serves is provided, along with a brief discussion of the foundations upon which the modality is based. The transdisciplinary nature of the program is elaborated, with some highlighting of the contributions from the theory and practice of social work.
The course of treatment for two disadvantaged children from very different settings is detailed, with treatment vignettes which put in relief the uses that these individual children make of the group process. Finally, a discussion of the enabling agents of Therapeutic Nursery Group interventions is offered, emphasizing the rationale for technical aspects of work in groups with preschool children.
The first two authors are, respectively, the Director and Consulting Psychiatrist to The Therapeutic Nursery Group Program of the Child Development Center, Jewish Board of Family and Children''s Services, NYC. C. Lapidus is a Clinical Child Specialist at the Hudson Guild Counseling Center, NYC.
We acknowledge with appreciation comments on earlier drafts of this paper by Alice Frankel, M.D., Alaine Krim, C.S.W., Arlene Lieberman, C.S.W., and Michael Merkin, M.D. Our gratitude to librarians Lynn Kelly and Sue Weiland is also noted; their generous and skilled assistance facilitated our work.