Person-Centered Therapy with Impoverished, Maltreated, and Neglected Children and Adolescents in Brazil

This article reports on a program that provides person-centered therapy for impoverished, maltreated, and neglected children and adolescents in Brazil. The program, which is staffed by volunteer therapists, started in 2002. Since then, nearly 100 hundred children and adolescents have received therapy in three institutions, one residential and two nonresidential. The general outcomes are described, leading to the conclusion that person-centered therapy is an effective strategy for the promotion of children's and adolescents' resilience, even in the context of multiple adverse conditions such as socioeconomic disadvantage, neglect, maltreatment, and abandonment. We conclude that the multicultural feature of person-centered therapy explains its effectiveness in this distinct population of Brazilian lower-class and non-White children and adolescents.