Lausanne Family Play: Assessment and Video Feedback Intervention for Parenting and Coparenting

LAUSANNE FAMILY PLAY: Assessment and Video Feedback Intervention for Parenting and Coparenting

In this practical manual for clinicians, Dr. Diane Philipp provides evidence-informed guidance on working with families on parenting and coparenting challenges. Her approach fills a gap in infant and early childhood mental health interventions that have historically been focused on mother-baby dyads, neglecting the roles that coparenting and siblings play in both healthy and problematic family functioning.

Based on her decades of work as a child and adolescent psychiatrist in a children’s mental health centre, Dr. Philipp provides the reader with clear guidance on how to engage families in simple play-based tasks, developed in Lausanne Switzerland, that help us understand family dynamics. She then walks the clinician through how to provide sensitive yet powerful video feedback to parents.

The manual is rich with transcripts as well as Dr. Philipp’s insightful comments throughout to help clinicians to better understand the techniques used, common errors and stumbling blocks, and to address frequently asked questions and misconceptions. There are nine appendices at the back that can serve as resources and handouts for the busy clinician.

While grounded in years of family research, this manual is intended for clinicians working in the field and is filled with practical insights. The writing is user-friendly and for those clinicians interested in including coparents, siblings, and family therapy in their work with young families, this manual promises to become a cherished companion.