Filial Therapy as a Cross-Cultural Family Intervention - The Chinese ...

Daniel S. Sweeney, Catherine Skurja
group work and the need to provide a significant amount of training and the
appropriate supervision of parent-child play sessions.
Some parents and families in Asian cultures are reticent to share internal
relational problems with peers. As noted, filial therapy training can be
provided on an individual basis. If the situation presents, it may be beneficial
to continue with the “group” model by including extended family members
in the parent training. The filial therapist, therefore, must be trained and
experienced as both a play therapist and group therapist.
10-Week Model
The 10-week filial therapy model developed by Landreth (2002) is the
recommended format. While other models of filial therapy call for a lengthier
format, it has been found that parents frequently do not have the time or
commitment level to continue longer than ten weeks. The ten weeks should
be considered a minimum because of the substantial amount of material
covered. The duration is also crucial so that parents can be supervised
adequately in their skill development and so that proper support can be given
to parents who are frequently dealing with emotionally charged parenting
issues.
This model is based on conducting filial therapy in a group setting.
When filial therapy training is conducted on an individual basis, it is the
first author’s experience that the duration is usually six weeks. Although it
might be postulated that the treatment time should be shorter because of the
decreased number of clients, the supervision component of the training
necessitates this duration.
Whether a group or individual process, filial therapy training should
involve discussion and interaction. Whereas parents are often looking for
answers from the “expert,” the filial therapist should focus on facilitation
rather than direction and dispensing advice. It is a helpful group dynamic
194