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Filial Family Therapy

Parents play a crucial role as primary educators for their children. Filial Therapy is a proven therapeutic approach that blends non-directive play therapy and family therapy to enhance relationships, foster healthy attachments, and prevent family discord. This method offers a direct and efficient way to tackle challenging parent-child dynamics and related behavioral and emotional issues.

“Drawing from the principles of Child Centered Play Therapy, it transforms children, parents, and the entire family.” Garry Landreth

Recognizing that play is how children primarily communicate and work through challenges, parents undergo training and supervision by a certified filial therapist in child-centered play therapy principles. They learn to engage and communicate in the language of 'play', fostering a deeper connection with their children. Subsequently, parents apply their newfound play therapy skills during weekly '30-minute special playtime sessions' with their children at home. This method effectively addresses relationship and attachment issues, as well as various problematic behaviors like defiance, anger, withdrawal, and depression.

Filial Family Therapy helps children to:

• Effectively manage their emotions
• Control impulses
• Cultivate positive self-esteem
• Make sound decisions
• Become self-reliant and motivated
• Enhance self-awareness and emotional intelligence
• Feel secure and reduce anxiety
• Establish open communication with parents throughout childhood and adolescence

Parents/caregivers are coached in:

• Child-centered play therapy principles (such as reflective listening, setting therapeutic limits, offering choices, and allowing the child to lead the session)
• The significance of empathy and acceptance through play, crucial for nurturing responsive and sensitive parenting, improving parent-child interactions, and fostering a healthy attachment.

The therapy aims to help parents understand their child's world and experiences through play, where children reveal their underlying issues, process their emotions, and find solutions. Parents discover that giving their full attention to their child is key to understanding them and strengthening their bond.

The focus of family therapy training is on helping parents recognize and respond to their children's emotional needs in a therapeutic manner. The number of training sessions is tailored to meet the specific needs of parents and their child, determined during the assessment phase that includes an initial parent consultation and parent-child play observation.