What is CPRT?
Child-Parent-Relationship-Therapy (CPRT) or Filial Therapy is an approach used by play therapist to train parents to become therapeutic agents for their own children. CPRT is a special 10-session parent training program to help strengthen the relationship between you and your child by using 30-minute play times once a week. CPRT is based on the belief that the relationship between you and your child is the key element for your child to grow, develop, learn, and heal. Parent is taught basic child-centered play therapy principles and skills.
Originally, this CPRT was developed as a group model, but HopeSpring Child & Family Clinic can also offer CPRT to you if you wish to learn skills in an individual therapy setting. CPRT can be incorporated with individual play therapy with your child. You will be taught to have special structured 30-minute playtimes with your child using a kit of carefully selected toys in your home. You will learn how to respond empathically to your child’s feelings, build your child’s self-esteem, help your child learn self-control and self-responsibility, and set therapeutic limits during these special playtimes.
How Can CPRT Help My Child?
In these special playtimes, you will build a different kind of relationship with your child, and your child will discover that she/he is capable, important, understood, and accepted as she/he is. When children experience a play relationship in which they feel accepted, understood, and cared for, they play out many of their problems and, in the process, release tensions, feelings, and burdens. Your child will then feel better about herself/himself and will be able to discover her/his own strengths and assume greater self-responsibility as she/he takes charge of play situations.
How your child feels about herself/himself will make a significant difference in her/his behavior. In the special playtimes where you learn to focus on your child rather than your child’s problem, your child will begin to react differently because how your child behaves, how she/he thinks, and how she/he performs in school are directly related to how she/he feels about herself/himself. When your child feels better about herself/himself, she/he will behave in more positive ways rather than in negative ways. Researches have shown the effectiveness of CPRT, including decreasing child’s behavioral problems, improving your child’s self-control and responsibility, enhancing the parent-child relationship and the marital relationship, and improving parent’s feelings of warmth for her/his child.
If you answered “Yes” to several of these questions, then you may find CPRT helpful
Signs You May Need CPRT (Child-Parent Relationship-Therapy)
- Do you feel like you have lost control of your role as a parent?
- Do you find yourself yelling at your child more often than laughing with your child?
- Do you feel you have lost touch with your child or don’t feel as close as you would like?
- Do you feel frustrated and find yourself saying the same things over and over, with no results?
- Do you often find yourself getting so frustrated with your child that you end up saying or doing things that you later regret?
- Would you like for your relationship with your child to be different?
- Do you want to help your child, but do not how?
- Do you want to improve your relationship with your child?
- Do you want to improve your parenting skills?
- Do you feel like your child needs therapy?
- Do you worry about your child’s lack of self-esteem?
Request Appointment
(703) 259-5617
info@hopespringchildandfamily.com
3915 Blenheim Blvd STE 23A,
Fairfax, VA 22030