Reviews for Counseling diverse populations

The average rating for Counseling diverse populations based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-06-16 00:00:00 Christine Jones Trounstine takes her teaching experience in the Framingham prison system and creates a dramatic tale of women, who commit wrongs and yet are wronged themselves. I expected to be moved, but honestly not quite this much. I'd like to read more updated materials on similar experiences from other teachers, because it was hard for me to picture female prisoners having the privilege of wearing their own clothing and getting the opportunity to don costumes while in the crossbar hotel. Then again, Trounstine's teaching years for this book were during the eighties and early nineties, so the rules weren't quite as strict. She molds the prisoners into experienced actors and playwrights. These women rewrite "The Merchant of Venice" and "The Taming of the Shrew" (Rapshrew - brilliant!) into contemporary language in order to put on a performance in prison, and thus dispel the notion that Shakespeare is the "white man's theater" as they put it. I found myself trying not to cry when I read about the cheers and standing ovations they received after their first performance, and again reading about Jean's final experiences with each woman. I recommend this reading to everyone as it encourages the idea that art programs can bring valuable therapy to criminals and possibly reduce recidivism.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-06-27 00:00:00 Brad Adtea I wanted to like this book, I really did. But I couldn't turn off my editing brain the whole time. First, the afterword about compositing of characters and rearranging of the actual timeline should really have been a preface so the reader already knows that we're being shown essentially staged reenactments. Second, I wish the book had been structured chronologically, rather than loosely grouped into chapters that each vaguely centered a different inmate-- the result was that several anecdotes were told multiple times and the narrative seemed jumbled. Maybe it's just that in 2017 we have multiple seasons of OITNB with nuanced portrayals of women inmates as complex humans, but I also felt like the portrayals of the women in this book (copyright 2001) seemed flat and sometimes cartoonish. I'm also sort of the choir in this case, in that I'm all for arts and education programs in prisons, so maybe the stories here aren't necessarily aimed at me. So it wasn't unpleasant, but I wanted more from the book than what I got, I guess. (Also, Shakespeare doesn't seem to feature a whole hell of a lot, given the title, but that's as may be)