CCPT Purism: How The Guerneys and Filial Therapy Extended the CCPT Model

In this episode of the CCPT Purism series, I explore the work of Bernard and Louise Guerney, who extended the principles of child-centered play therapy beyond the playroom through the development of filial therapy. Their innovation marked a major turning point in the model’s evolution by shifting the role of the therapist from the primary change agent to a coach who empowers parents to support their children at home through non-directive play.

I walk through how filial therapy remains fully adherent to CCPT while providing a framework for training parents in tracking, reflecting feelings, and setting therapeutic limits. The Guerneys’ work laid the foundation for programs like CPRT, which combine CCPT principles with family engagement to dramatically improve outcomes. This episode is a call to remember our roots, honor the legacy of those who shaped this model, and stay grounded in the principles that make CCPT so powerful.

Episode References:

Guerney, B. G. (1964). Filial therapy: Description and rationale. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 28(4), 304–310. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0044594

Guerney, L. F. (2000). Parent-child interaction therapy: Filial therapy and child-centered play therapy. International Journal of Play Therapy, 9(2), 33–49. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0089442

Landreth, G. L., & Bratton, S. C. (2006). Child parent relationship therapy (CPRT): A 10-session filial therapy model. New York, NY: Routledge.

Bratton, S. C., Ray, D., Rhine, T., & Jones, L. (2005). The efficacy of play therapy with children: A meta-analytic review of treatment outcomes. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 36(4), 376–390.
https://doi.org/10.1037/0735-7028.36.4.376

Ray, D. C. (2011). Advanced play therapy: Essential conditions, knowledge, and skills for child practice. New York, NY: Routledge.

LIVE, APT-approved Advanced "4-Pillars" CEU Training (Reflecting Feelings, Choice-Giving, Encouragement, Limit-Setting) Series Starting Friday March 28th Through April 11th, 2025

PlayTherapyNow.com is my HUB for everything I do! playtherapynow.com. Sign up for my email newsletter, stay ahead with the latest CCPT CEU courses, personalized coaching opportunities and other opportunities you need to thrive in your CCPT practice. If you click one link in these show notes, this is the one to click!

If you would like to ask me questions directly, check out www.ccptcollective.com, where I host two weekly Zoom calls filled with advanced CCPT case studies and session reviews, as well as member Q&A. You can take advantage of the two-week free trial to see if the CCPT Collective is right for you.

Ask Me Questions: Call ‪[phone]‬, or email: [e-mail]
Brenna's CCPT Hub: https://www.playtherapynow.com
CCPT Collective (online community exclusively for CCPTs): https://www.ccptcollective.com
Podcast HQ: https://www.playtherapypodcast.com
APT Approved Play Therapy CE courses: https://childcenteredtraining.com
Twitter: @thekidcounselor https://twitter.com/thekidcounselor
Facebook: https://facebook.com/playtherapypodcast

Common References:
Cochran, N., Nordling, W., & Cochran, J

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
You're listening to the Play Therapy Podcast with Dr. Brenna Hicks,
your source for centered and focused play therapy coaching.
Hi,
I'm Dr. Brenna Hicks,
The Kid Counselor.
This is the Play Therapy Podcast where you get
a master class in child-centered play therapy
and practical support and application for your
work with children and their families.
In today's episode,

(00:20):
we are continuing in our CCPT purism series
and we're going to explore the Guerney's influence
on the development of the model that we know today
and we talked through
the early pioneers and then we're transitioning into the Guerney's work,
so really excited about that.
However,

(00:40):
before we dive in,
I need to share a couple of things with you.
First and foremost,
This week on Friday starts the
Corwell course
on the advanced play therapy pillars.
So if you want to do a deep dive more
than anything I've ever talked about in the podcast,
more than anything that we've talked about in
the Collective or on the coaching programs,

(01:02):
going to be the most comprehensive
covering of the four pillars.
So 4,
nope,
3 Fridays in a row,
starting this Friday,
the 28th.
And then the first two Fridays in April.
Love to have you.
You can join us live,
but there is a cap,
and then if you want to do on demand,
that is another option as well.
So I wanted to make you aware of that.

(01:22):
Secondly,
I have no idea from who,
so I'm just saying a blanket thank you.
I'm still very confused as to the giver,
but I had the loveliest little thing show up at our office.
It is
an embosser
and it says from the library of Brenna Hicks.
And I,
there's no return address,

(01:43):
there's no name,
there's no identifying information whatsoever.
And it's basically an embossing stamp that lets me
either stamp a sticker to put on something or to actually stamp
a page in a book from the library of Brenna Hicks,
and y'all know how much I love to read.
And so that was the most thoughtful gift and I wish I could thank you personally,

(02:04):
but I have no idea who you are.
So whoever sent that to me,
thank you so much.
And that was just such a special surprise.
Mya opened it and she was so excited.
She was like,
hey,
you got this,
and I was like,
who's it from?
She says,
I don't know.
And she's like,
can I open it?
And I said,
sure.
So she opened it,
sent me a picture,
and
then I just got to actually use it today.

(02:25):
So
anyway,
huge thank you to whoever it was of you that was so kind and thoughtful,
and it's always a lovely surprise when something shows up at the office,
but I usually like to know who it's from.
So if it's you,
email me and tell me so that I can say thank you directly.
All right,
so let's dive into the Guerneys today.

(02:46):
So we're going to look at how they took Axline and Roger's work.
We've already covered those two.
And they essentially expanded it
beyond the playroom
and into individual homes.
So they pivoted a little bit away from the clinical
and more into the practical
in their development of filial therapy.

(03:08):
This
was a huge turning point.
In the development and the evolution of CCPT
because it no longer required
child therapist interactions.
The model now recognized the role of parents
in the healing process.
And we already talked about how Rogers was revolutionary,

(03:29):
Axline was revolutionary.
Now we have the Guerneys also revolutionizing this concept.
That
Parents can be the therapeutic agents in their child's life.
So we looked at how Axline adapted Rogers person centered therapy into principles
and the non-directive model,

(03:49):
but CCPT did not stop there.
In the 60s.
The Guerneys asked a groundbreaking question.
Can we involve parents
and help them be change agents for their kids?
And this question changed everything
so let's look at
who they are and and what happened.

(04:10):
So Bernard was a psychologist trained
in person centered therapy
and he was strongly influenced by Rogers himself.
Louise
was a child psychologist,
so you can see how these are very clearly married together here.
So.
Husband,
psychologist trained by Rogers,
Louise,

(04:30):
a child psychologist and researcher.
And they wanted to develop a more family inclusive approach.
And they saw the gap
in traditional child therapy,
which was that parents
were historically left out of the process.
And then gas in the playroom
didn't always translate to the home.

(04:54):
So with this gap that they perceived,
they created this concept of filial therapy
and in its simplest form,
what that means is they pioneered a structured method
to train parents
to conduct non-directive play sessions with their own children
in their own homes.

(05:16):
And it was still based on
Axline's principles.
It was still based on Roger's influence,
but with the CCPT principles,
the change was that it was facilitated by the parent
instead of the therapist.
And this was pioneered in the 60s and has been refined over 4 or 5 decades

(05:39):
by not only the Guerneys,
but also others since.
So,
essentially what they created
was a coaching program
that helps parents understand basic CCPT skills.
Which
in their simplest form,
it would be tracking behavior,
reflecting feelings,
setting therapeutic limits,
the basic reflective responses,

(05:59):
the basic pillars.
So parents were taught those basic skills.
And then parents practiced with their child while being supported and coached by
a therapist.
And here's
the incredible shift,
which still exists today.
The therapist is no longer the sole healer.

(06:21):
They are a guide to help parents grow
in that capacity.
So the therapist actually becomes a coach,
rather than the one providing the therapy to the child.
Now,
what has stayed the same
is that the child is still the leader
in the play sessions.
The parent only brings presents,

(06:44):
not directives,
which is fully adherent to CCPT and its model.
So what stayed the same is that it's still child led.
What changed
was that the therapist became a coach,
rather than the one providing the therapeutic intervention.
And
this was groundbreaking as well,
because filial therapy democratized healing.

(07:08):
That's probably too fancy of a word.
It gave parents the skills to support their child directly.
And it no longer
forced a parent
to rely on a therapist instead of relying on themselves.
So,
at its core,
filial therapy stayed true.

(07:30):
It's still non-directive play.
There's still unconditional positive regard.
It's still child led.
There's still an establishment of emotional safety
and the ability for the child to feel wholly.
And
the three-step limit setting process,

(07:50):
ACT.
So those
all essential elements.
All remained steady
from the therapeutic model to the filial model.
What changed
is that the therapist is no longer the one providing CCPT.
The parent is now the active participant in that.

(08:12):
And
it is essentially a training and teaching program
for parents.
And obviously that is not included in the traditional CCPT model.
So,
why was this so important?
What,
what is the influence here big picture?
Well,
we know
that a child spends an hour with us each week.

(08:35):
But we know that they spend
Dozens of hours with their family each week.
We can only have so much influence in that hour.
And that hour is meaningful because it's therapeutic,
but it's an hour versus dozens of hours at home with parents.
And the Guerneys recognized
that the quality of the time spent between the parent and the child

(09:00):
determines outcomes,
and we know this to be true in our own work.
How often do we try to get parents to engage in the process
in our consultations?
Why?
Because we know outcomes are better when parents are involved.
We know outcomes are better when parents can
pour into the relationship with their kids.
So,
the Guerneys recognized that
and essentially created filial therapy

(09:22):
so that parents can reconnect
with their child emotionally.
They can
repair
any fractures or damage to the relationship.
And they can support emotional expression at home.
And if you think about it,
those are the three areas
that,
well,
at least that I identify,
and I'm assuming you would as well.

(09:44):
Those are the three areas when I meet with parents,
especially for initial parent consults
that I see as huge issues
in a child's behavior.
When
a parent and a child are completely emotionally disconnected,
when there is massive relational fractures or ruptures.
And when there's no support for emotional expression.

(10:08):
At home,
that's why we see self-defeating behaviors.
That's a very clear connection.
So the Guerneys recognized
that the quality of the relationship matters.
And look,
I mean,
I'm beating a dead horse here,
but this is the whole premise of everything that we do.
The relationship is at the heart of everything.
It's the same for parents.

(10:29):
When a child comes in and they're just regulated,
my gut reaction
internally,
I,
this doesn't come out of my mouth,
but my gut reaction internally is,
where's the relationship breakdown between parent and child?
I,
I need to figure out what what's causing this,
because kids behave in self-enhancing ways

(10:49):
when they have the relationship in the environment that's conducive to do so.
So the Guerneys are putting this out into a culture that
has never conceived of this before in the 60s,
and they essentially honored
the parent's role
in the child's life,
while also helping them shift their parenting approach

(11:12):
because historically
and well even still today,
but even at this time when the Guerneys were pioneering this concept,
you know,
parents tried to control their children,
they still do.
But the Guerney said,
let's move from control
to connection,
and things will get better.
And
they proved it to be effective.

(11:33):
So,
the beauty of this is that filial therapy is now considered to be a major extension
of CCPT.
When I was in my grad,
I was gonna say grad-cert,
but that's
something that probably I only understand.
My graduate certificate program at USF in play therapy.
I took an entire semester of filial therapy.

(11:55):
I had individual play,
I had group play,
and I had filial.
Why?
Because it's a major extension of CCPT.
It's taught widely
in play therapy programs.
And
CPRT
Landreth and Bratton's model that
I use that I've taught many of you to use that I'm doing a Corwell course on,

(12:15):
that is an extension
developed that emerged from the Guerney's foundational work.
They paved the way
for family inclusive
approaches
that remain CCPT.
Everything in the filial model is CCPT adherent.

(12:36):
And look,
we know there are all kinds
of
parenting programs.
There's all kinds of parent coaching,
there's all kinds of
curriculum and,
and all kinds of things for parents,
even coaching programs,
teaching programs,
instruction,
whatever.
98% of them are not CCPT adherent.
The filial model is.

(12:58):
So it's everything that we believe in about CCPT.
And it involves parents.
It's the best of both worlds.
This is why I love CPRT so much.
Because it provides kids with CCPT
that they need and it provides parents
with a whole different way of interacting,
connecting with their children,
and it changes the relationship,

(13:20):
and that changes everything.
That's why I'm such a huge advocate for incorporating CPRT
into your practice,
because
the
outcomes are undeniable.
OK,
so what does this mean?
Filial therapy
does not replace CCPT.
Obviously,
it's a very different approach,

(13:40):
but it extends it.
And it invites therapists to empower parents.
Instead of being the one with all of the power in a therapeutic context.
And the relationship between the child and the parent
is just as important as the relationship between the child and the therapist.
So

(14:02):
It was interesting that
the Guerneys looked at this gap,
looked at this need,
and they were uniquely equipped to meet it.
Trained by Rogers,
trained as a child psychologist,
they
were able to work collaboratively to create
something that
has been huge
in our field.

(14:22):
And now parents are able
to learn the skills,
implement
the approaches,
and they see firsthand the power of the connection and the relationship
and
creating the kind of environment at home
that allow kids to have the freedom
but also the necessary limits

(14:43):
to be happy.
And that all comes through the filial model that the Guerneys created.
So hope that that helps you understand
where,
where we're going in this journey.
Next we're going to look at Garry Landreth
and the modern evolution of CCPT.
So the last 3 episodes we've been looking at the history and the development.

(15:04):
We're going to look at the modern era of CCPT next week,
how the model was named,
how it was clarified,
and how it was carried forward into what we're doing today.
So
hope that that excites you hope that it encouraged you.
I'm really happy that so many of you have reached out about this series.
This is,
this is what we need.

(15:24):
This is what
my,
my fear,
honestly,
and I don't,
I don't say this out loud.
Eric and I talk about it all the time,
but
I don't say it out loud a lot.
My greatest fear
is that the seminal texts are being ignored,
the history is not being learned.
And no one is taking the time
to look at the basics
and where this all began.

(15:46):
And I know there's all kinds of push toward innovation and evolution and
and development and whatever,
but quite honestly,
if we don't go back to
the basics,
and if we don't know
where we came from and why.
Everything gets lost in the shuffle,
and I think that's why CCPT
is making a huge surge right now.

(16:09):
I think that there's a push toward
adherence to the model because I think we're finally
getting back to what we know to be true
and that's in its seminal form.
So this series is kind of my heartbeat right now,
because
if we lose sight of how this emerged and why
and why it was groundbreaking and and everything behind it.

(16:32):
The skills are
largely meaningless.
If
they're not supported
philosophically.
And we have to know
where we came from to understand where we're going.
So I'm glad that you're enjoying the series and
we're gonna be on this ride together for a while.
So,
all right,
if you want to reach out to me,
I'd love to hear from you,

(16:53):
[e-mail].
If you have not joined the Collective,
we would love to have you www.ccptcollective.com.
Online community of,
I don't even know,
maybe 175 members or so
and we hang out twice a week on a live call and we
spend time together chatting and doing case consults and things like that
and it's just fun to be in there.

(17:13):
So if you haven't checked that out,
please do so.
We would love to have you
and you know I love you.
I'll talk to you again soon.
Bye.
Thank you for listening to the Play Therapy Podcast with Dr.
Brenna Hicks.
For more episodes and resources,
please go to www.playtherapypodcast.com.