Filial Therapy: Strengthening Family Attachments,13 CEs, Advanced Training

Filial TherapyStrengthening Family Attachments and Healing for Lasting Change 2 day, 13 CEs, Advanced Training with Pre-requisites

In Person!

The child is brought in, but you can see that the whole family is struggling. You ache for a modality that will meet the child’s needs as well as address the needs of the whole family! Filial Therapy is a tried and true method that brings systemic and lasting change to the whole family.

Filial Therapy is a systemic play therapy approach that strengthens the parent-child attachment then uses it in combination with the powers of play therapy to address needs throughout the family and create lasting systemic change. Parents are trained in the principles and skills of Child-Centered Play Therapy and then provide CCPT to their own children with the guidance of a Filial Therapist.

The September 2019 edition of Play Therapy from the Association for Play Therapy magazine, says, “A meta-analysis of all play therapy modalities for which research existed at the time (e.g., Bratton, Ray, Rhine, & Jones, 2005) demonstrated that Filial Therapy was the single most effective form of play therapy.”

Filial therapy has extensive research from the past 50 years with several formats for delivery: Individual Filial Family Therapy by VanFleet, Filial Family Therapy (FFT) by Louise Guerney, and Child-Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT) by Garry Landreth. All of these formats of FT teach parents to do CCPT with their own children, and children are able to experience the benefits faster with the involvement of their parents.

The purpose of this two-day workshop is to train experienced Child-Centered Play Therapy clinicians with the skills of Filial Therapy. This workshop will train clinicians to conduct an initial screening to discern client readiness for Filial Therapy and than take clinicians all the way through a Filial Therapy process to termination. Clinicians will learn how to train, supervise, and support parents through this play therapy process in a way that leaves parents feeling empowered. This training will focus on the use of Filial Therapy, a play therapy modality, with individual families while also providing the foundation for use of Filial Therapy in group settings. For skill development, lecture, visuals, video demonstration, and supervised role-play will be utilized leaving clinicians feeling confident to begin utilizing this method.

1) parents develop parenting skills

2) resolve conflict between parents and children

3) increase parent-child attachment

4) decrease problematic symptoms like depression, anxiety, mild autism, trauma, disruptive behaviors, and aggression

5) children with family adjustments like adoption, divorce, and remarriage.

This training is accepted by NIRE, a provider of Filial Family Therapy Certifications.

Pre-requisites: This training is for licensed mental health professionals, or current students studying to become licensed in a mental health field. Filial Therapy is an extension of Child-Centered Play Therapy. Therefore, a clinician must have a solid training, supervision, and experience with Child-Centered Play Therapy before joining for this class. It is required that clinicians have had at least one 2-day training in CCPT (or Graduate class equivelent), followed by at least 10 hours of supervision specific to CCPT, AND at least 6 months of experience using CCPT OR have completed a CCPT Certification.

After registration you will receive an email requesting the dates of the CCPT training you attended (or copy of sylabi from the graduate class attended), and the name of the supervisor who provided 10 hrs of CCPT specific supervision.

This training will begin with participants sharing about their training and experience in CCPT as this will be the foundation we will build on.

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APT APPROVED PROVIDER: #19-592,

This is classified for APT as a Contact Training for 13 CE hours.

Location: 999 N. Main St. Suit #202, Glen Ellyn, IL, 60137

Schedule: Friday and Saturday, November 7th and 8th 2025 from 8am CST-3:30pm CST

Friday November 7th, 7:45am Registration, 8am-3:30pm CST Training

Saturday November 8th, 7:45am Registration, 8am-3:30pm CST Training

Meals on your own. Snacks, tea, and coffee provided!

Investment:

$150 for Full-Time students ($55 per day), Space is limited.

$295 Early Bird Rate for Professionals available before Oct 15th 2024.

$355 Professionals after Oct 15th 2024.

$220 Nonprofit and Associate Licensed Professional Rate, Space is limited, see below for requirements.

$75 discount for those who work at a non-profit. Tickets in this category are limited and indicated at checkout by the title "Nonprofit and Associate Licensed Professional Rate". Please provide a copy of tax exempt status via email to [email protected]. There are limited spots available for this discount per training.

$75 discount for those who have an Associate license only. Tickets in this category are limited and are indicated at checkout by the title "Nonprofit and Associate Licensed Professional Rate". Please provide a copy of your associate license via email to [email protected] . There are limited spots available for this discount per training.

Payments accepted: Credit Card (thru Eventbrite), Check or Chase Quick Pay Zelle (received 1 week before event)

Refund: Full Refund Available (minus credit card and eventbrite fees) up to 7 days in advance.

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Learning Objectives:

This workshop is designed to help you:

1) Utilize the rationale for use of the Play Therapy modality, Filial Therapy.

2) Describe the research demonstrating the effectiveness of the Play Therapy modality, Filial Therapy.

3) Identify diagnosis, ages, and behaviors of children and family difficulties which would be appropriate for the Play Therapy modality, Filial Therapy.

4) Conduct a screening to determine if a family is an appropriate fit for the Play Therapy modality, Filial Therapy.

5) Prepare families for the Filial Therapy process and creating an environment at home to conduct Filial Therapy effectively.

6) Teach the six core skills of Child-Centered Play Therapy (structuring, tracking, empathy, limit setting, role play, responding to special situations) to parents utilizing lecture, demonstration, and role play .

7) Coach parents as they develop Filial Therapy Skills utilizing an experiential educational strategy which empowers parents and helps them learn quickly.

8) Utilize individual or group discussion to help parents generalize skills from Filial Therapy sessions to every day parenting.

9) Identify needed adaptations of Filial Therapy, a Play Therapy modality, depending on ages of children.

10) Evaluate families readiness to terminate Filial Therapy, a Play Therapy modality.

11) Write effective Progress Notes and Treatment Plans to accurately document Filial Therapy sessions.

12) Describe ethical guidelines one needs to consider when utilizing Filial Therapy, a Play Therapy modality, in a group setting.

13) Utilize multiple format options to provide Filial Therapy, a play therapy modality, in individual practice settings.

Sharon Bryant, LMFT, EMDR, RPT-S, CCPT-S, FFT-S, is certified in Child-Centered Play Therapy, Filial Family Therapy, Relationship Enhancement Programming, and is an EMDRIA Approved EMDR Trained Clinician. Sharon is a Child-Centered Play Therapy and Filial Family Therapy Skills Consultant for NIRE. She is the founder of Flourishing Families LLC and works in private practice at Flourishing Families LLC in Glen Ellyn, IL. She has presented twice at the NIRE national conference in Washington D.C., has taught play therapy as an adjunct professor, and has trained in play therapy for a variety of settings. Sharon has co-authored a life-skills curriculum called Back on Track and has contributed to a marriage-enrichment program (“Couple Talk”) as well as a parenting book titled A Life Shared: Meaningful Conversations with Our Kids.

Sponsor: Flourishing Families, LLC https://www.flourishingfams.com/

If you have any questions, please email: [email protected]

Flourishing Families delivers quality training, supervision, and resources for mental health professionals. Our goal is to empower, equip, and nurture clinicians to enable them to provide quality mental health services that help families heal and flourish. Flourishing Families is an APT Approved Provider #19-592.

Flourishing Families declares that this workshop and presenter have no conflict of interest in presenting this workshop, nor is there any commercial support.

Flourishing Families

999 N. Main St. Suite #103

Glen Ellyn, IL

60137

Flourishing Families empowers, equips, and nurtures mental health professionals by offering quality trainings, supervision and resources. Find us on Facebook!

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