Filial Therapy

Introduction to Filial Therapy - Play Therapy

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In Filial Therapy it is parents 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.

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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.

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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 family.