What is Functional Family Therapy?
Functional Family Therapy is an intervention for families with children age 10-17. The intervention begins with an engagement/motivation phase where the Family Support Specialist develops alliances with all family members, minimizes hopelessness and negative communication, and increases motivation for change. When the Family Support Specialist assesses that the family is motivated, she begins behavior change, matching the families’ relational functions, helping the family develop communication and positive parenting skills. In the final phase, generalization, the Family Support Specialist assists the family in accessing needed community resources and planning how to implement the skills they’ve developed in new situations they may encounter.
