ABSTRACT

Child-Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT) focuses on helping parents understand the internal world of their children by becoming attuned to children’s needs and responding to those needs in ways that promote optimal child development. In order to provide culturally responsive therapeutic services, it is critical for play therapists to understand that play is culturally contextualized while acknowledging a global orientation of play as a catalyst of children’s expression and development across cultures. At the same time, it is also important to highlight that in some ethnic minority communities, extended families are an important part of child rearing, and there is a tendency for parents to include these family members in the CPRT process. The rationale behind the decision to conduct individual CPRT was to promote the willingness for the parent to share his struggles without fear of losing respect in his role as a community leader.