TerapiaLampi

Family Nurture Play is a Finnish mentalization and Theraplay-based intervention that can be used from pregnancy until age five.

The goal of the activities is to support the parent’s ability to mentalize and their emotional availability with the baby through tasks and playfulness.

Family NaP themes during pregnancy include (for example): ”what kind of a nurturing parent will I be”, ”what kind of a baby will I have”, and ”what kind of close relatives will the baby have”. Each session includes deliberation of moods and exercises that strengthen the ability to nurture and be emotionally available. Mothers are guided towards a mentalizing contemplation: the baby is a separate human being with his/hers own needs and wants.

Family NaP themes from birth to five years cover six categories of emotional availability that will be reviewed; sensitivity, the ability to structure, non-obtrusiveness, non-hostility as well as responsiveness and the child’s ability to take the initiative.

Checking in on moods and the inner resources of the parents, a reflective way of working, playfulness, nurture and relaxation are all themes at the core of the group activity.

Each session includes conversation and exercises that increase the ability to mentalize, psychoeducation, cognitive and physical exercises (including relaxation and massage), and interplay activities that support sensitivity. Family NaP usually consists 6-8 sessions.