A three day live online intensive

Course overview 

What if some of your greatest therapeutic impact came through supporting the parent, not only the child?

As play therapists, we know the power of the therapeutic process. When parents are also given the knowledge, skills and confidence to bring the therapeutic principles of play into their relationship with their child, the potential for change can extend beyond the therapy session and into everyday family life.

Filial Family Therapy is an evidence based and relationship focused approach that brings together family therapy and Child Centred Play Therapy. Rather than working with the child in isolation, the model equips therapists to teach, coach and support parents to conduct therapeutic play sessions with their own children.

This three day live online intensive provides comprehensive training in the original Guerney model of Filial Family Therapy. Participants will explore its theoretical foundations, development and research base while learning the principles and practical skills required to support parents throughout the Filial Therapy process, from intake through to completion.

At the heart of Filial Family Therapy is an understanding that parents can become active and meaningful partners in their child’s therapeutic process. Parents are supported, not blamed. They arrive with different strengths and areas for growth. Some may find empathy and attunement more natural but struggle with boundaries and limit setting. Others may feel confident providing structure but find it harder to remain present with their child’s feelings and experience.

The therapist supports a gradual shift in parental attitudes while teaching practical, life and relationship enhancing skills grounded in empathy, presence, structure and Child Centred Play Therapy.

Across the three days, participants will learn how to educate, train, supervise and support parents as they develop the skills and confidence to facilitate therapeutic play sessions with their children. The training will explore the different roles of the therapist, the stages and structure of the model, inclusion and exclusion considerations, the parent teaching process, supervision and feedback, common challenges and ways of responding to parental questions, concerns and resistance.

This is a practical and experiential training. Participants will learn through interactive teaching, video material, live demonstrations, role plays, breakout room activities, supervised skills practice, discussion and reflection. The live online format will provide opportunities to practise the methods used to teach, coach and offer feedback to parents within both individual and group settings.

You will have the opportunity to: 

• Describe the theoretical foundations of Filial Therapy
• Summarise the history, development and supporting research for Filial Therapy
• List the five major therapeutic goals of Filial Therapy
• Identify the main phases and elements of the Filial Therapy process
• Describe what occurs at each stage of the Filial Therapy process
• Describe the seven essential features that comprise a Filial Therapy model
• Identify the different roles of the therapist throughout the Filial Therapy process
• List the six underlying principles and attitudes required when training parents in Filial Therapy
• Explain at least two ways Filial Therapy may benefit a parent’s particular situation or presenting concern
• Identify at least three child or family concerns for which Filial Therapy may be beneficial and explain why
• Describe the inclusion and exclusion criteria relating to parents and children when using Filial Therapy
• Identify the two phases of parent training in Filial Therapy
• Describe the three principles that guide the process of teaching Filial Therapy to parents
• Demonstrate empathic listening when responding to parents’ questions and concerns during intake and training sessions
• Describe the teaching method used for parents’ mock play sessions when introducing the core play therapy skills
• Describe the four step feedback process used when supervising parents’ play sessions with their own children
• Identify at least three common challenges that may arise during the parent training phase
• Describe strategies for responding to challenges and resistance when implementing Filial Therapy

Training methods will include: 

• Interactive live online presentations
• Video examples and facilitator demonstrations
• Large group teaching and discussion
• Pair and small group activities in online breakout rooms
• Role plays and practice experiences
• Supervised skills practice and feedback
• Case discussion and clinical application
• Reflection and integration opportunities

Who should attend? 

This training is suitable for qualified play therapists, psychologists, social workers, counsellors, family therapists and other experienced professionals who work therapeutically with children and families and meet the prerequisite requirements.

Participants must have a deep understanding of Child Centred Play Therapy, non directive play therapy or humanistic play therapy, together with either:

• In depth clinical training and supervised practice specifically in Child Centred Play Therapy, non directive play therapy or humanistic play therapy
• Completion of at least 150 hours of play therapy training endorsed by APTA, APPTA or PTPA

Attending from interstate or internationally?

You can use this time converter to check the exact day and time of this training for your location.

Workshop Facilitator -  Helen Younan Barrett
		Helen Younan Barrett is a certified filial family therapist, registered play therapist supervisor, systemic child and family psychotherapist and accredited mental health social worker with more than 23 years of experience supporting children, parents and families. She has taught and supported parents to learn and apply the Filial Family Therapy framework individually and in groups, both online and in person. This varied experience has given her a rich understanding of the strengths parents bring, where they may become stuck and what helps them translate the framework into their everyday relationships with their children. Helen is the founder and ceo of The Family Systems Hub, where she provides child and family psychotherapy, parent support, clinical supervision and professional training. Her grounding in family systems principles and the phenomenological approach of systemic family constellations shapes the depth and systemic lens she brings as a play therapist and teacher. This training remains firmly grounded in the original Guerney model of Filial Family Therapy.

Dates and Times: 

Monday 7th  - Wednesday 9th December, 2026, 9.30am - 5.00PM AEDT (SYDNEY TIME)

Attending from interstate or internationally?

You can use this time converter to check the exact day and time of this training for your location.

Details

Included in the workshop price:

• 18 CPD hours 
• Link to create Certificate of Attendance
• GST

Price

Regular Price                   $1149

SCCC Member Price        $921 

Please note, this LIVE and INTERACTIVE training event and will be not recorded. 

Work Paying?

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Send us an email requesting an invoice via the contact page with your name, the dates and name of course/courses you'd like to do and the name of your organisation who you want us to invoice and we will send you an organisational invoice and a registration form.