Theraplay

[MrsSifB]

Hi

I’m a prospective adopter in stage 1, currently trying to read and learn as much as possible. I would like to do some training in Theraplay aimed at parents but am struggling to find anything at the moment, it all seems to be aimed at professionals. I’ve checked Theraplay’s own website and there’s currently nothing on their parenting training section. Does anyone know any good training providers for parents please? Virtual classes would be great in the current climate. I’d be grateful for any info.

Thanks in advance 🙂

I don’t think you will find training for parents, its a therapy delivered by qualified professionals to the family. Parents partcipate in it, not deliver it. I would imagine that if you were ever in need of theraplay, your therapist would teach you specific things tailored to your families needs.

Why Theraplay in particular?

Theraplay is child specific and as far as I'm aware they offer only training in a therapeutic setting. They are aware that many parents want more information around it and have done this book which I've found really useful.

Parenting with Theraplay®: Understanding Attachment and How to Nurture a Closer Relationship with Your Child https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1785922092/ref=cmswwrcppapiglttfabc1GNGA02BAY5Q9RW4WH3P

I would defo learn all you can on theraplay, as I understand it its not just for professionals. Have a look at Adoption UK for webinars on it. Have a look at Beacon House beaconhouse.org.uk/resources/ as you can buy parent-child cards to help with it, they are good, and I think there is an Adoption UK webinar from them about it if I remember rightly (i may not be!). Ive also got 'Parenting with Theraplay' by Norris & Rodwell. Theres so much to read and learn I would embrace it for sure. Maybe also 'Using Stories to Build Bridges with traumatised children' by Kim Golding.

I went on a two-day theraplay course for foster carers and adopters, including prospective adopters. It was a really good, practical course and I do use some of the activities and the principles underpinning them with my ds. Theraplay shouldn't be confused with play therapy which is delivered by professionals. Theraplay is about being playful and tactile with your own child for the purposes of building attachment. It was organised and funded by the LA. Have you mentioned to your sw you want to attend a course as they would have a good idea if what's available in your area. There might not be much going on due to Covid, but a quick Google search brought up some training available for adopters and foster carers with PAC-UK that was scheduled for November 2020. It was £88 for a day course though so ideally you'd want to find out what's local to you and ideally funded, so if it's not too obvious suggestion I'd talk to your social worker about it.

Thanks for both responses.

@Ted27 I was listening to a podcast about an adoption agency giving a theraplay session with prospective parents with ideas of theraplay activities to help promote self regulation and I thought something like that would be really useful. It doesn’t have to be the theraplay I guess, I’m just looking for ideas of activities to help the child really.

@ifchocolatewerecelery that’s great, thank you, I will check out the book.

If you google Theraplay exercises you’ll find really useful exercise sheets for use by parents at home, basically forms of playful activities that help build connection with your child. Theraplay as a therapeutic intervention is delivered by trained professional who are trained and equipped for issues it might bring up for the child and parents - it’s a very effective intervention for children with attachment difficulties and @Ted27 is right that the therapist wouid give you activities to continue at home specific to your child and their needs. The courses that are usually offered to parents cover basic principles and exercises which you can easily find online, full training is much more in depth and really is aimed at professionals who would be working therapeutically.

Have a look at the resources online, which may give you enough to be going on with at this early stage, if there’s a particular need for a child being placed with you the local authority should support you in that.

@scully29 thanks for all the info, this is brill, I wasn’t aware of the cards, this is exactly what I was hoping for, some practical ideas for activities! They look great so I’ll grab some of those. Also whilst browsing on their site from you link I’ve just found some great training session about helping with dysregulation too so that’s been really useful! Theraplay definitely sounds really interesting and useful so I will look for the videos and books to keep trying to learn as much as possible, thanks so much.

I think we may be at cross purposes , easy done! There is a trademarked Theraplay which is a therapeutic intervention delivered by professionals, but as others have pointed out, lots of really useful resources out there.
@MrsSifB you are of course quite right to be casting the net wide and learning as much as you can. Even if you don't end up using a particular strategy it's all good to have ideas up your sleeve.

@sunshineandskyscrapers oh wow, great that your LA organised this for you, I haven’t mentioned it to the SW so will definitely give that a try in case they can organise this for us. I hadn’t seen the details of that course provided by PAC in November, that’s really helpful thanks. I might contact them to see if anything similar planned but will definitely ask the SW first in case this can be funded. Thanks 😊

@Jellycatspyjamas @Ted27 thanks both, I hadn’t realised it was used in this kind of setting to help with a specific families needs so good to know. I have just googled like you have suggested though and found lots of examples for parents so I’ll have a read through for some ideas. Thank you, all really helpful.