Module 4: Working with Parents in Theraplay Treatment
Overview
Theraplay® is a child and family modality of play therapy for building and enhancing attachment, self-esteem, trust in others, and joyful engagement. Theraplay involves the parents in play therapy an immediate and positive way. The involvement gives them experiences of success and pride in their children so they can feel motivated to support them through the play therapy process. Through work with the parents, including helping them develop empathy for their child, conveying practitioner empathy for them, and building their confidence in their parenting capacities, practitioners can support long-term change in the family system. This four-hour training is designed to teach participants the fundamentals of working with a wide range of parents and caregivers using the Theraplay model.
Prerequisite: Module 1,2, and 3
CEs: 4
Required for certification
- Using video, trainers demonstrate treatment of a real client families
- The training is interactive, intense and practical—trainees will leave with the knowledge and skills to begin work with parents using play therapy to address complex family system issues
- It features video of Theraplay treatment with many different clients in addition to the demonstration family
- The training includes interactive sessions to practice a variety of way to support parents in the therapeutic process.
- The training concludes role play as parents, as well as practitioners, to provide an embodied experience of the theoretical learning.
- Trainees will see how to adapt Theraplay for video therapy, focusing on the important role that parents play as the cofacilitator of the therapeutic process
- Describe how to guide parents and caregivers to participate in a Theraplay, a modality of play therapy, in treatment sessions
- Describe how to support parents and caregivers in the development of empathy, understanding, and mentalization/reflective capacity when interacting with their children
- Show how to prepare parents and caregivers to use Theraplay play therapy techniques at home to further therapeutic goals
- Examine what differentiates working with a complex parent from a more typical case and what this means for play therapy treatment