Filial Therapy - Play Therapy Northern Territory

What is Filial Play Therapy?

Filial Play Therapy is another form of play therapy. It is where a person, who is trained in aspects of Play Therapy, supports and assists in training parents, grandparents or significant carer's to be able to undertake their own special play time sessions at home. This type of training is to enhance the relationship between the child and this significant person.

Filial Play Therapy is preferably done with one child initially but can be undertaken with all of the family's children. This program can be undertaken in many creative ways and can be undertaken with children from as young as 2 and a half up until 12 years. Parents who have children with challenging behaviours and special needs have found the course to be of great benefit. The program is designed to assist and support a change in your children's behaviour and you're parenting style to benefit the overall family core. It has been designed to be a positive learning experience for all parents and is not a difficult academic process.

What Filial Play Therapy is NOT about

You're being a BAD parent or having BAD children.

What are the benefits of doing the Filial Program?

As with any form of counselling, Play Therapy can be expensive. Naturally you will save money if you can undertake you own special play time at home.
You can do this as often as you like and still assist your children's needs.
The saying 'Prevention is better than cure' is valid in relation to Play Therapy.
Filial Play Therapy can be a long term mechanism that supports your family.
Please remember this is not a total replacement for children who have significant Play Therapy/Counselling needs.

Naturally this will depend on your own parenting style and skills. This will assist with the difficult situations that we all face with children. Your children's responses to you will also become different over time.

You will also meet a network of parents with similar issues, which in turn can be a very positive support mechanism.

What will it cost me?

The cost can very from $35 for groups to $75 for individual parent sessions. This is without any subsidy from agencies. If an agency is referring you, please contact them and enquire about assistance with funding for you to attend. Group sizes are generally minimum of six to a maximum of eight to ensure positive support.

How long and how often do I attend?

The course is a 1 hour per week program that will last for the duration of a school term (10 weeks). There is also half an hour of homework to be done for each class. Please note this is not difficult or academic work.

Please note: When you commit to the program you need to be able to attend all 10 sessions. It's not only important for you, but for the group as a whole to get input.

When does it Start?

Please contact PTNT about when the next Filial program will start and or if you have a group of parents who would like to attend.