Filial Therapy

 

We offer Filial Therapy for parents/carers and children together whereby a play therapist supports the parent(s) or carer(s) learn four simple therapeutic play parenting techniques which are then practiced with their child at home.  

 

What is Filial Therapy?

Filial Therapy strengthens parent/child relationships, when parents are taught non-directive play therapy techniques and are supported to use them at home to help their children with social and emotional difficulties and/or challenging behaviours.

 

Through Filial Therapy parents learn to understand their child’s worries and feelings more fully. They learn new skills for encouraging co-operation from their children. They begin to enjoy playing with their children and giving them positive attention, and they develop self confidence in their parenting ability, and this enables them to trust their children and deal with the frustrations of family life in new ways.

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In Filial Therapy it is parents/carers who are trained to conduct child-centred play sessions with their children so they themselves are given the skills necessary to become the therapeutic facilitators of change. The broad principles of Play Therapy apply: play is an essential form of communication and healing for children, providing a medium through which the child can express difficult feelings and work through challenging experiences in the presence of a trusted adult.

Filial Therapy combines family and Play Therapy principles and techniques and is structured to enhance the parent child relationship. It is a well researched and empirically validated intervention in which parents learn how to create a non-judgmental and accepting understanding relationship with their children through play sessions conducted in the home.

Unlike conventional Play Therapy, parents are fully involved. It confirms the parents as the most important people in their child's healing and development. Sessions with the parent provide a creative therapeutic process through which the child can safely rework experiences and issues that have influenced and continue to affect the child and sometimes the whole fam

Through Filial Therapy parents/carers learn to understand their child’s worries and feelings more fully. They learn new skills for encouraging co-operation from their children. They begin to enjoy playing with their children and giving them positive attention, and they develop self confidence in their parenting ability, and this enables them to trust their children and deal with the frustrations of family life in new ways.

 

Filial Therapy can be used to help infants under 3 years as well as children up to the age of 14 and can be adapted for older children

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