Functional Family Therapy — Child Welfare (FFT – CW)

Functional Family Therapy through Child Welfare is an adaptation of Functional Family Therapy (FFT) that is designed to provide services to youth age 0 through their 18th birthday and families. FFT is a relational approach that matches interventions to the relational configurations of families. With FFT-CW, trained therapists are able to implement more “parent driven” intervention strategies to build skills and create a family context in which youth can flourish. This program addresses the mental health, substance abuse and behavioral needs of parents as well as children.

Our FFT-CW team is using the FFT-HR (high risk) model which includes five phases: (1) Engagement, (2) Motivation, (3) Relational Assessment, (4) Behavior Change and (5) Generalization. Each phase includes specific techniques of intervention, as well as therapist goals and qualities. The intervention involves a strong cognitive/attributional component integrated into systematic skill-training in family communication, parenting, skills, conflict management skills and numerous other skills linked to a variety of syndromes and referral problems.

If you are interested in receiving more information about the FFT-CW program, please contact Robin Simmons-Johnson, LCSW, via email or call (985) 868-2620.