Youth Services : Functional Family Therapy (FFT)

FFT is an outcome-driven and highly successful family intervention program for at-risk youth and juvenile justice involved youth. An FFT clinician works with families to help change family behavior by targeting communication and increasing the family's ability to use resources, as well as practicing newly-learned behaviors in multiple situations.

Although commonly used as an intervention program, FFT is also an effective prevention program for at-risk adolescents and their families. Whether implemented as an intervention or a prevention program, FFT may include diversion, probation, alternatives to incarceration, and reentry programs for youth returning to the community following release from a high-security, severely restrictive institutional setting.

What is FFT?

Empirically grounded, well-documented and highly successful family intervention program for dysfunctional youth.
Applied to a wide range of at-risk youth aged 11-18 and their families, including your with problems such as conduct disorder, violent acting-out, and substance abuse.
Intervention ranges from, on average, 8 to 12 one-hour sessiones up to 30 sessions of direct service for more difficult situations.
Conducted both in clinic settings as an outpatient service and as a home-based model.
A treatment technique that is appealing because of its clear identification of specific phases, which organize intervention in a coherent manner, thereby allowing clinicians to maintain focus in the context of considerable family and individual disruption.
Each phase includes specific goals, assessment foci, specific techniques of intervention, and therapist skills necessary for success.

FFT Intervention Phases

Engagement, designed to emphasize factors that protect youth and families from early program dropout.
Motivation, designed to change maladaptive emotional reactions and beliefs, and increase alliance, trust, hope, and motivation for lasting change.
Assessment, designed to clarify individual, family system, and larger system relationships, especially the interpersonal functions of behavior and how they related to change techniques.
Behavior change, which consists of communication training, specific tasks and technical aids, basic parenting skills, contracting and response-cost techniques.
Generalization, during which family case management is guided by individualized family functional needs, their interface with environmental constraints and resources, and the alliance with the FFT therapist/family case manager.

FFT at Community Solutions Inc.

Community Solutions Inc. (CSI) Home-Based Youth Services division is widely acknowledged for its strict adherence to model fidelity and successful outcomes.
CSI developed its own multi-phase screening, hiring and training protocols for home-based therapists, which have resulted in a very high therapist retention rate and excellent satisfaction ratings among therapists.
CSI's currently offers FFT services in Flagler, Orange, Osecola, Putnam, St. Johns, and Volusia counties in Florida.