ABSTRACT

This chapter presents a rubric for professionals who are considering using a pairs model in their own settings. It also presents the exemplary programs from our own practices that apply pair therapy in different ways for differing purposes. The chapter explains the individual child factors and the institutional concerns and constraints that are brought to bear in designing and implementing a pair therapy program. Pair therapy is considered a long-term form of treatment, aiming to foster internal personality change through increasing the capacity to coordinate social perspectives and to translate this capacity into mature interpersonal behaviors. As the reader has learned, pairs is designed to promote the development of friendship making and maintaining skills in children. At the Manville School where pair therapy originated, the pair therapist trainees originally were pre-doctoral candidates in psychology, and pair therapy was one modality in which they received clinical training for the treatment of child psychopathology.