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A Hand In Healing: The Power of Expressive Puppetry
This is the first book written about expressive puppetry and how to use puppets when providing care for people of all ages and levels of functioning. Marge Schneider created the first expressive puppetry program for adults in the United States, helping clients with dementia and depression find their voices and tell their stories. Now she shares her two decades of experience as an educator, complementary therapist, and spiritual counselor, helping those who provide care to clients or loved ones make authentic, heart-to-heart connections.
A Hand In Healing is both spiritually based and a “how to” guide in expressive puppetry. Through stories that will inspire and mentor, this unique book offers insight into Marge’s exploration of deep expressive places that are not typically reached with cognitive techniques. People with dementia and depression are often unable to respond effectively to cognitive therapy, which can leave clinicians frustrated at the limited approaches available to help their clients heal. Learn how to reach beyond the barriers of dementia and depression and how to help children and teens with challenging emotional issues. See how numerous health care professionals have helped transform the lives of their clients using puppets as their therapeutic healing tools.
This book helps hospital, nursing home, and hospice staff to dramatically enhance their insight, sensitivity, and compassion. Too often, both staff and family members assume that their loved one or client with dementia is vacant and has no story left to share. However, A Hand In Healing shows there is usually a story deep within waiting to be told and honored, and that establishing and deepening the connections with family and staff is the best way to elicit these stories. After establishing trust, the level of sharing is often quite miraculous and the level of healing through isolation and grief can inspire and be a source of joy.
Book reviews:
- International Expressive Arts Therapy Association’s book review of A Hand In
Healing in its 2016 newsletter:
“In her book, A Hand in Healing: The Power of Expressive Puppetry, Marge Schneider has assembled a collection of extremely moving stories in which the use of puppetry brings solace, comfort, and hope to people struggling with some of life’s most challenging circumstances. The author reveals a unique ability to animate the life conditions and attendant emotions of the often distressed and disillusioned individuals she encounters, and her work brings much needed caring and compassion to the people with whom she communes. Schneider’s approach to this very sensitive subject matter is direct and straightforward, but in a soulful, heartfelt sense rather than a theoretical one. She deals head on with the myriad of emotions (or lack thereof) that her patients contend with in line with their respective conditions, and her ability to deeply empathize with their circumstance while at the same time accepting them exactly as they are is one of the truly essential messages of her work. Marge Schneider’s book represents an important and innovative contribution to the field of expressive arts therapy, and may well serve as a pioneering work that expands the use of this dynamic discipline into mainstream psychotherapeutic practice.”
- Namaste Care’s brief book review of A Hand In Healing in its June 2016 Newsletter
Selected customer reviews from Amazon:
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In this deeply moving and important book, our eyes and hearts are opened to the potential for profound emotional and spiritual healing, through the magic of puppetry. Through heart-warming stories and step-by-step instructions for choosing the most appropriate puppet and bringing it to life, the reader is reminded that it is never too late to create loving connections and open to the love around you.
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I absolutely loved reading- A Hand In Healing, by Marge Schneider! As a retired nurse I wish Ms Schneider’s book was available when I was working in my long time profession. It would have been extremely useful during my time in the Emergency Department. The variety of case studies shared in A Hand In Healing, truly touched my heart. It takes a gifted writer to break down in detail the hows of choosing, and using a puppet, along with the helpful suggestions on how to make clients, and patients comfortable when a puppet is included in their care. The author of A Hand In Healing is very supportive in helping future puppet-practitioners in becoming confident. I highly recommend this book to everyone who has been thinking of picking up a puppet to get- A Hand In Healing. I plan on gifting this book in my mother’s memory to the nursing home where she resided for over a year. I think their Recreation Department will find it inspiring and very useful.
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As a student of healing modalities, although not a professional in the field, I was given this book to review and was not sure what I would learn from it. All I can say is that this book is worth reading for the wonderful insights it offers, even if you are not interested in the puppets. Besides emphasizing the need for laughter and lightness in life, Mrs. Schneider demonstrates and reminds us that letting go of sadness and pain makes room for joy. She gently guides us out of our serious mode and into realizing that playing and creativity is both fun and healing. As one who nursed my mother through 2 years of cancer and took care of my father through 10 years of dementia, I can attest to how healing it is have to have stuffed animals and dolls to help express feelings that were difficult. Mrs. Schneider puts all of this into a context that explains how the added dimension of a puppet can help even a lay person both cope with their own needs and help those that they are taking care of as well.
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I wish I had read this book just a few months sooner, before my grandmother-in-law with dementia passed away. This book provides amazing stories of how puppets can be used to help even seemingly uncommunicative people find a way to connect with others, and elicit hidden passions buried away from earlier in life. Not only is it a helpful tool to use with others, but I would like to think that someone would take the time to be playful and tell stories to me through puppetry if my essence is ever hidden somewhere in my body. This book even goes through a list of what types of puppets may be most effective for different scenarios. “A Hand in Healing” is worth reading whether interested in hearing “feel-good stories” or interested in incorporating puppetry into your professional or personal life.
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A great find. The author is a former teacher turned puppeteer who describes her work as a complementary therapist using puppets to help people suffering with dementia, depression, loneliness and other issues. In Schneider’s capable hands the puppets become universal translators for people who have lost the skill of communication or shut down emotionally. There are powerful stories about their sudden animated and even joyful responses, in some cases after long months of silence. We learn about Omar, a farmer drawn out of anger and silence by a Border Collie puppet. And Bella, a sullen former ballerina who regains the joy of sharing her art when she is able to try out Schneider’s ballerina monkey puppet in the care facility where she is a patient. (She nicknames it “moonbeam”). And then there is Grace, silent and unresponsive after a diagnosis of severe dementia, until a dog puppet inspires her to spontaneously begin speaking in sentences again. There is a sweet moment where Schneider is holding the dog puppet and Grace tells her, “you have to be good to them”. There are many more stories and discussions like that. And stories about the metaphorical uses of puppets by people in desperate need of communication about the end of their lives. Also there is an overview of the growing use of expressive puppetry in care settings in America. This is a grand and positive story about painful realities, but it also offers a new set of tools for care providers and families who are struggling to reach patients with Alzheimer’s, depression, or long term illness.
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Workshops
My hands-on, interactive workshops educate, energize and inspire participants on how to create heart-to-heart connections using puppets as powerful therapeutic healing tools. Learn more!