It's all about the

RELATIONSHIP!

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One of my favourite things to do in my job involves running Child-Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT) training. You may not have heard of this parenting model – it’s not as heavily marketed as big names like Triple P and 123 Magic. However, CPRT has been well-researched and shown to be very effective at helping parents better manage their children’s behaviours.

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I’ve seen children begin to feel and act better, and parents begin to grow in their ability to lead their families with calm and confidence. I’ve truly never had a parent tell me that they didn’t get something out of this group. Although a parenting group like this can be a big time commitment, it is very much worth the effort!

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What is Child-Parent Relationship Therapy?
Child-Parent-Relationship Therapy (CPRT) aims to help reduce children’s problem behaviours by strengthening the relationship between a parent and a child. Parents attend a weekly 2-hour (parent-only) group, and then hold weekly 30-minute special playtimes with their children at home.

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This program goes for 10 consecutive weeks.

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Why Play?
Play is important to children because it is the most natural way they communicate: while adults talk about their experiences, thoughts, and feelings, children use toys to explore their experiences and express what they think and how they feel. This is not a typical playtime!

What kinds of things will I learn?
In Child-Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT), parents learn and use many of the same skills that play therapists use with their clients, including:

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• How to help children open up to you

• How to recognize and respond to children’s emotional needs

• How to set limits and reduce power struggles

• How to increase self-esteem

• How to foster creativity, self-responsibility, and self-control

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How is the information taught?
CPRT groups use a combination of videos, group activities, collaborative discussion, as well as some lecture. The atmosphere is friendly and the training is interactive, making it a lively and enjoyable experience. You also get the chance to connect and receive support from other parents who are going through similar issues.

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How will CPRT help my child?
Research has shown that motivated parents who have completed CPRT can be just as effective as play therapists at:

• Reducing problem behaviors

• Developing responsibility and self-control in children

• Increasing children’s self-esteem

• Enhancing the parent-child relationship

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Can any parent join a Child-Parent Relationship Therapy group?
Some CPRT groups may be aimed to divorced parents or foster parents; however, the traditional group is aimed at all parents of children aged between 3 and 10.

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How is CPRT different from any other parenting curriculum?
There are a lot of truly amazing parenting guides out there. However, here are some things that set CPRT apart from the others:

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• You are not expected to go home and change everything you do. You will learn one new skill each week, which you will get to practice in your 30-minute playtime with your child. CPRT is less overwhelming than other models can be, which helps you retain the information more easily.

• CPRT will not make you a trained play therapist, BUT you will have a much greater understanding of what goes in a play therapy session between a trained therapist and your child. Other parenting models give great advice, but only CPRT involves showing parents how to have special playtimes.

• Unlike other parenting guides, CPRT has been identified as an Evidence-Based Treatment by SAMHSA

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Adapted from: Amanda Robinson, LPC, RPT