ABSTRACT
Parents (care-givers) and children (care-receivers) are engaged in complex, reciprocal, dynamic, moment-by-moment interactional dances. When caring goes well, the parent and child are attuned where needs are met, parenting is rewarding, and children flourish. However, there are often many challenges that make parenting difficult and disrupt the frequency and quality of this interactional process. These include difficulties about parental social judgement and shame, parental self-criticism, couple conflict, mental health disorders for parents (e.g. depression), and child social, emotional, and behavioural challenges. This chapter explores how compassion focused therapy (CFT) and compassionate mind training (CMT) can be used as not only an individual, open-ended therapy, but also as a public health approach to support and guide parents and children. CFT offers parents the opportunity to bring the varied processes of compassion to themselves, their partner, and children to help the family flourish.
