Functional Family Therapy

Functional Family Therapy (FFT) is a nationally researched and evidenced-based model of intensive in-home family therapy for youth and families involved in the Child Welfare system.

The out-come-driven therapy involves all members within the family working together to prevent out-of-home placement, to intervene on behalf of family rebuilding, and to reunify the family unit. The program targets youth aged 8–17 and their families involved in the Child Welfare system. 

FFT therapists develop partnerships with families, operating on the belief that all families have strengths and are doing the best they can at any point in time. To accomplish this, FFT meets specific goals during three phases of the intervention.

Phase 1 – Engagement and Motivation: In this phase, the therapist engages and motivates the family by decreasing negativity, blaming and hopelessness. The therapist creates with the family a family-focused problem definition that allows for alternative solutions to be possible.

Phase 2 – Behavior Change: During Phase 2, the therapist teaches specific skills for reducing and/or eliminating the problem behaviors and accompanying negative family relational patterns through individualized behavior change interventions.

Phase 3 – Generalization: In the final phase, the therapist supports, maintains, and generalizes changes across problem situations by increasing the family’s capacity to utilize community resources and engage in relapse prevention.

Program Information