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Adlerian Play Therapy

Adlerian Play Therapy (AdPT) is a therapeutic approach designed for children ages 3-10, drawing from the principles of Alfred Adler’s Individual Psychology. This approach helps children explore their emotions, beliefs, and social dynamics through play, a natural medium for self-expression. The therapy unfolds in four phases: establishing a trusting relationship, understanding the child’s lifestyle, gaining insight into their perceptions of self and others, and guiding them toward positive goals and constructive behaviors. Through these phases, AdPT is designed to support children in developing self-esteem, social interest, and problem-solving abilities. By providing a supportive and safe environment, the approach encourages children to navigate and make sense of their feelings, fostering personal growth, and helping them develop skills to interact in socially appropriate ways. The therapy aims to empower children with a sense of belonging and significance as they learn to understand and manage their relationships and emotions more effectively.

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Disruptive Behavior Treatment (Child & Adolescent)
Scientific Rating 3

Child Welfare System Relevance Level

Medium

Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up – Early Childhood

Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up – Early Childhood (ABC-EC), developed for children ages 2 through 4, targets several key issues that have been identified as problematic among children who have experienced adversity and/or demonstrate socioemotional or behavioral concerns. These young children often behave in ways that push caregivers away. The first intervention component is designed to help caregivers reinterpret children’s behavioral signals so that they provide nurturance even when it is not elicited. Nurturance does not come naturally to many caregivers, but children who have experienced adversity especially need nurturing care. Thus, the intervention aims to help caregivers provide nurturing care even if it does not come naturally. Second, many children who have experienced adversity are dysregulated behaviorally and biologically. The second intervention component is designed to help caregivers provide a responsive, predictable, warm environment that enhances young children’s behavioral and regulatory capabilities. The intervention aims to help caregivers follow their children’s lead with delight. The third intervention component is designed to help caregivers implement calming strategies and be present psychologically and physically when their child is dysregulated.

Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up – Infant (ABC-I) is rated separately on this website.

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Home Visiting Programs for Child Well-Being
Scientific Rating 3

Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health (Birth to 5)
Scientific Rating 3

Child Welfare System Relevance Level

High

UCLA Mindful App

The UCLA Mindful App is a free app intended entirely as an educational tool designed to help relieve stress, teach mindfulness concepts, and promote resiliency and well-being-- including emotional regulation and the cultivation of positive emotions. It is available on the App Store or Google Play.

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Digital Mental Health Interventions (Youth/Young Adult)
Scientific Rating NR

Child Welfare System Relevance Level

Low

Child-Centered Group Play Therapy

CCGPT is designed to be a developmentally responsive, play-based mental health intervention for young children ages 3 to 10 who are experiencing social, emotional, behavioral, and relational disorders. The program aims to utilize play (the natural language of children) and the therapeutic relationship to provide a safe, consistent therapeutic environment. In this environment, a child can ideally experience full acceptance, empathy, and understanding from the counselor and, at the same time, process inner experiences and feelings through play and symbols. Additionally, CCGPT allows for children to experience social interactions with 2-3 group members which hopefully enable the children to learn and practice new social and coping skills. CCGPT is appropriate for children who struggle with peer or sibling relationships, as well as emotional and behavioral problems. In CCGPT, a child's experience within the counseling relationship is designed to be the factor that is most healing and meaningful in creating lasting, positive change. Based on person-centered principles, overarching goal of CCGPT is to unleash the child's potential to move toward functional relationships and self-enhancing ways of being. Child outcome goals include decreased symptomatic behaviors and improvement in overall functioning.

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Anxiety Treatment (Child & Adolescent)
Scientific Rating 3

Child Welfare System Relevance Level

Medium

Connect: A Trauma-Informed and Attachment-Based Program for Parents and Caregivers

Connect: A Trauma-Informed and Attachment-Based Program for Parents and Caregivers is a structured 10-session manualized program delivered in a group format to parents and caregivers of preteens and teens with serious behavioural and internalizing problems. Connect aims to promote parental reflective function, emotion regulation, sensitive care, and parent-child mutuality and cooperation. Sessions introduce attachment principles that specifically focus on adolescence and parenting and include experiential and emotion-focused role-plays and reflection activities. The program integrates a trauma-informed, strength-based, and collaborative approach to promoting the development of new parenting skills and parent-child attachment security. Connect is designed to be delivered by a range of health and education professionals in hospitals, mental health centers, community agencies, and schools. Connect is available in five languages and via virtual program delivery.

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Topic Areas

Disruptive Behavior Treatment (Child & Adolescent)
Scientific Rating 1

Parent Training Programs that Address Behavior Problems in Children and Adolescents
Scientific Rating 1

Child Welfare System Relevance Level

Medium

Child-Parent Relationship Therapy

Child-Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT) is a play therapy-based treatment program for young children presenting with behavioral, emotional, social, and attachment disorders. CPRT is a systemic intervention grounded in Child-Centered Play Therapy (CCPT) theory, attachment principles, and interpersonal neurobiology. CPRT is based on the premise that a secure parent-child relationship is the essential factor for a child's well-being. In a supportive group environment, parents learn skills to respond more effectively to their children's emotional and behavioral needs. In turn, children learn that they can count on their parents to reliably and consistently meet their needs for love, acceptance, safety, and security. In CPRT, parents are taught specific skills grounded in the principles and procedures of CCPT that focus on establishing or enhancing a secure attachment with their child and helping parents attune to and respond to their child's underlying needs rather than focus on symptoms. Parents learn to limit their children's problem behavior, while demonstrating empathy and respect for their children.

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Topic Areas

Disruptive Behavior Treatment (Child & Adolescent)
Scientific Rating 3

Parent Training Programs that Address Behavior Problems in Children and Adolescents
Scientific Rating 3

Attachment Interventions (Child & Adolescent)
Scientific Rating 3

Child Welfare System Relevance Level

Medium

Child-Centered Play Therapy

CCPT is a developmentally responsive, play-based mental health intervention for young children ages 3 to 10 who are experiencing social, emotional, behavioral and relational disorders. CCPT utilizes play, the natural language of children, and therapeutic relationship to provide a safe, consistent therapeutic environment in which a child can experience full acceptance, empathy, and understanding from the counselor and process inner experiences and feelings through play and symbols. In CCPT, a child's experience within the counseling relationship is the factor that is most healing and meaningful in creating lasting, positive change. Based on person-centered principles, overarching goal of CCPT is to unleash the child's potential to move toward integration and self-enhancing ways of being. Child outcomes following CCPT include decreased symptomatic behaviors and improvement in overall functioning.

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Topic Areas

Anxiety Treatment (Child & Adolescent)
Scientific Rating 3

Disruptive Behavior Treatment (Child & Adolescent)
Scientific Rating 3

Domestic/Intimate Partner Violence: Services for Victims and their Children
Scientific Rating 3

Child Welfare System Relevance Level

Medium

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) is a therapy model that asserts the importance of building on the resources and motivation of clients because they know their problems best and are capable of generating solutions to solve their own problems. Central to SFBT is client strengths and resiliencies, client's prior ability to develop solutions, and exceptions to problems. Discussion of exceptions and movement towards future adaptive behaviors allows the clinician and client to focus on solutions to the client's problem, rather than dwelling on the problem itself. The emphasis of SFBT is on the process of developing an image of a realistic solution rather than dwelling on the past manifestation of the problem, with the focus being on identifying past successes and exceptions to the problem in an effort to accomplish set goals.

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Substance Abuse Treatment (Adult)
Scientific Rating NR

Child Welfare System Relevance Level

High

ACT Raising Safe Kids

ACT Raising Safe Kids Program is a universal parenting program designed to promote positive parenting and prevent child maltreatment by fostering knowledge and skills that change or improve parenting practices. The program is delivered by trained and certified ACT Facilitators in 9 sessions of 2-hour each on average. The ACT program has a universal public health approach and aims to reach to all parents of young children in a given community. The ACT program addresses parents' use of effective, nonviolent discipline and nurturing behaviors. It addresses parental knowledge of child development, discipline methods, and media literacy. It also addresses parents' anger management, social problem solving skills and their ability to teach/model these skills to children. By promoting effective parenting practices, the program also addresses children's aggression and behavior problems. ACT also provides a supportive community of parents who help and support each other during and after the program: it builds community.

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Topic Areas

Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (Primary) Programs
Scientific Rating 3

Child Welfare System Relevance Level

Medium

Circle of Security Parenting

The COSP program is a manualized, video-based program divided into eight chapters during which trained facilitators reflect with caregivers about how to promote secure attachment. The program is designed to be delivered in groups but can also be delivered to individual caregivers or couples. The facilitator pauses the video at designated moments and asks reflective questions from the manual to participants. Key concepts are presented with visuals compiled into a caregiver workbook; together the videos, the handouts/workbook, and the facilitator’s presence and curiosity assist caregivers to explore their strengths and struggles in meeting their children’s attachment needs.

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Topic Areas

Parent Training Programs that Address Behavior Problems in Children and Adolescents
Scientific Rating NR

Child Welfare System Relevance Level

Medium