Five therapists at Family Solutions are currently participating in a year-long Learning Community to maximize our clinical competence in learning and delivering Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) in conjunction with the Juvenile Court Infant Toddler Initiative and the Center for Youth, Family, and Community Partnerships. 

CPP is an intervention for children from birth through age 5 who have experienced at least one traumatic event such as the sudden or traumatic death of someone close, a serious accident, sexual abuse, exposure to domestic violence, and, as a result, are experiencing behavior, attachment, and/or mental health problems, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The primary goal of CPP is to support and strengthen the relationship between a child and his or her parent (or caregiver) as a vehicle for restoring the child's sense of safety, attachment, and appropriate affect and improving the child's cognitive, behavioral, and social functioning.

The type of trauma experienced and the child's age or developmental status determine the structure of CPP sessions. For example, with infants, the child is present, but treatment focuses on helping the parent to understand how the child's and parent's experience may affect the child's functioning and development. With older children, including toddlers, the child is a more active participant in treatment, and treatment often includes play as a vehicle for facilitating communication between the child and parent.

When the parent has a history of trauma that interferes with his or her response to the child, the therapist helps the parent understand how this history can affect perceptions of and interactions with the child and helps the parent interact with the child in new, developmentally appropriate ways. In general, mother-child dyads participate in weekly sessions for approximately 1 year.