What is Filial Therapy?
Filial Therapy engages parents as partners in the process of strengthening their own families to benefit the children, the parents and the family as a whole.
Parenting is one of the hardest 'jobs' out there. Filial Therapy is designed to help you find and build on the strengths that you already have so that you can feel even more confident and connected as a parent.
How can it help?
Overall, Filial Therapy is designed to:
- Reduce or eliminate any existing problems
- Help the family prevent future problems
- Strengthen the parent-child attachment and relationships within the family
- Improve the family's communication abilities
- Improve the family's coping abilities
- Develop more flexibility within the family
- Increase the family's ability to have fun together
- Provide the family with tools and ideas to use in the future
(VanFleet, 2022)
Click here for references and further recommended readingFilial Therapy was developed in the early 1960's by Drs. Bernard and Louise Guerney, since that time extensive research has found it to be an extremely effective intervention to help children and strengthen families.
Why use play?
To some, using play as a therapeutic family intervention may seem trivial to others maybe a little bizarre. As adults, when we encounter problems we tend to think about them, talk about them, assess them, view them from different angles and consider different options. Oftentimes, we will also talk them through with someone we trust or feel safe with.
Young children do this too, but with toys and play instead of words.
Play is the therapy, as it is the primary way that children:
- Develop an increased understanding of their child's development
- Develop an increased understanding of their child's feelings and motivations
- Learn about the importance of play and emotion in overall adjustment
- Learn additional childrearing skills and ideas to bring positive results
- Open up their communication with their children
- Develop their self confidence as parents
- Increase their feelings of warmth and trust toward their children
- Develop an understanding of their own and other's feelings
- Express their feelings in appropriate ways to meet their needs better
- Develop their problem solving skills
- Reduce their problematic behaviours
- Work through their conflicts and dilemmas to improve their adjustment
- Make better choices and take responsibility for them
- Increase their trust in their parents
- Increase their self confidence and self esteem
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