In child and play therapy, our most powerful work happens not only in the therapy room with the child - but also in how we engage their parents and caregivers.
Children grow, develop, and heal within the context of their attachment relationships. To support meaningful change, therapists must be able to both understand and respond to the emotional world of the adults who care for them.
Yet many clinicians report feeling less confident when navigating parents’ own mental health vulnerabilities or knowing how to respond effectively.
Our Be My Co-Therapist™ Training Series has been designed to bridge that gap - equipping you with the insight and clinical skills to confidently involve parents and caregivers as active partners in the therapeutic process.
These two complementary modules can be completed individually or as part of the broader Dyadic Play Therapy Training Program, providing a comprehensive framework for integrating parent work into child therapy:
Module 1: Parent Mental Health Vulnerabilities in Child and Play Therapy - Understand the common mental health challenges parents bring into the therapeutic process and how these impact engagement, capacity, and the child’s progress.
Module 2: Clinical Skills for Working with Parents/Caregivers - Deepen your practice with advanced counselling and relational skills to engage, guide, and collaborate with parents more effectively.
Together, these trainings support you to move beyond simply including parents in therapy to truly working with them as co-therapists in their child’s healing journey.
Read on for more information about each of these programs…
Be My Co-Therapist™ Module 1: Parent Mental Health Vulnerabilities in Child and Play Therapy
This workshop will provide an overview of common mental health issues many parents/caregivers experience and support child therapists to recognise these presentations in their practice. Special consideration will also be given to the impacts of a parent’s fertility journey, family violence, and intergenerational trauma.
Be My Co-Therapist™ Module 2: Clinical Skills for Working with Parents/Caregivers
This workshop will equip you with core adult counselling skills that supports parent/caregiver engagement. Specific focus will be on deepening assessment conversations, developing shared therapeutic goals and navigating differing views, providing effective feedback about children’s needs and therapy progress, offering therapeutic responses/approaches to be implemented at home, and having hard conversations.
Be My Co-Therapist™ Dyadic Play Therapy Training Program
In this comprehensive clinical training program, child and play therapists will further develop their knowledge and skills in play therapy, expanding this to work with the dyad of child and their parent/caregiver. This training equips you with integrated theoretical knowledge and clinical skills for delivering contemporary Dyadic Play Therapy, with a focus on children up to 10 years and their parents/caregivers.