Risk Reduction Through Family Therapy (RRFT)

This chapter provides to informing clinicians, researchers, and consumers about the basics of the Risk Reduction through Family Therapy (RRFT) treatment model, the state of the science with regard to its evaluation, and recent steps in its dissemination and implementation in community settings. It describes RRFT and team’s efforts to evaluate the safety, efficacy, and effectiveness of RRFT in trauma-exposed youth. RRFT is an integrative, exposure-based, ecologically informed approach to addressing co-occurring symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), substance use problems, and other health risk behaviors often experienced by trauma-exposed adolescents. The RRFT model is appropriate for adolescent girls and boys who have experienced any form of trauma, including but not limited to sexual abuse and assault, physical abuse and assault, exposure to domestic violence, community violence, and traumatic grief. Moreover, youth in the RRFT condition demonstrated significantly greater reductions in substance use and associated risk factors, PTSD, depression, and general internalizing symptoms compared to youth who received treatment as usual.