ABSTRACT

Functional family therapy (FFT) is an evidence-based family therapy model focused on helping troubled youth and their families by improving relationships and developing prosocial behaviors of individual family members. FFT is an integrated approach that combines family systems with cognitive and behavioral theories and intervention strategies to reduce risk factors and enhance protective factors at the level of individual family members, the family system, and the social ecology of the family. FFT consists of phases of treatment: engagement, motivation, relational assessment, behavior change, and generalization. Each phase is associated with distinct goals, assessment focus, and intervention techniques that provide a guide for therapists as they navigate the complex interactions that occur in sessions and develop treatment plans to address the unique needs of each individual family member and the family as a whole.