therapeutic play sessions with their own children.

There is a base of evidence that supports the increase in the effectiveness of therapeutic intervention when parents are involved in the process. Considering parents are usually the primary attachment figures for their children and know them best, filial therapy strengthens connections and relationships within the family through play.

This modality requires a substantial amount of work and commitment from parents as it is a longer term intervention involving a sequence to work through. It can be tailored to meet individual families where they are at and be targeted at the individual capacity of the parents.

The general sequence involves an initial parent intake session to gather background about the family, including parental play history, significant life events and information about each child in the family. This can sometimes be confronting or triggering for parents and your therapist can help to ensure the proper supports are put in place to ensure wellbeing and safety.

A whole family play assessment will be conducted and a parental discussion with the therapist follows. Care and supervision for children during discussions will need to be considered.

Parents will attend training sessions with with therapist without children where they will learn about and practise the 4 play therapy skills of

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• structuring

•  empathic reflection

•  imaginary play

•  limit setting

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The number of training sessions will depend on the comfort, ability and confidence of the parents.

Once training is complete, parents will lead sessions with each of their children individually under the supervision of the therapist. These supervised sessions will again be followed by discussion, requiring care and supervision for the children. Again the exact number of sessions will be dependent on the comfort, ability and confidence of the parents.

In the final phase of the sequence, parents will meet with the therapist to discuss how they skills they have been mastering can be applied into their everyday life at home and a plan to complete and finalise therapy will be developed. A final family play to notice and feel any differences from the initial one will be conducted and any post assessments administered to have a formal indication of progress