What's New

FUNCTIONAL FAMILY THERAPY

The Center for Children is proud to announce a new program as part of its mental health clinic in La Plata, Maryland. Functional Family Therapy (FFT) is an empirically grounded, well-documented and highly successful family intervention for at-risk and juvenile justice involved youth. In the past 5 years FFT has been designated as a "Blueprint Program," "Exemplary I Model Program," "Effective Program," "Best Practice," by such sources as the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, The Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, The Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, The Center for Disease Control, and the U. S. Surgeon General's Report on Youth Violence (2001).

The FFT model is appealing because of its clear identification of specific phases that organize family change in a coherent manner. Each phase in the FFT change process includes specific goals, assessment foci, specific techniques of intervention, and clinical skills necessary for success.

Youth ages 10-18 years and their families, whose problems range from acting out to conduct disorder to alcohol/substance abuse benefit from FFT. FFT is designed for children and adolescents who are getting into trouble and either involved with the court system or headed in that direction. The goal is not to blame the child, but work with the family as a unit to make things better. First, a meeting called an intake is set, during which the therapist gathers information and facts. Next, the family and therapist meet weekly to work on the goals the family has developed. The average length of time a family is involved with Functional Family Therapy is about 12 weeks.

Currently there are over 150 certified FFT sites in the USA. The Center for Children is only the second site in the State of Maryland to receive the FFT training. The Center for Children has a team of clinicians trained in the use of FFT and available to the families served by the center. For more information about the FFT program at the Center for Children contact Greg Clark at 301-609-9887 x 124 or clark@center-for-children.org.

Teen Girls Survivor Group for victims of sexual assault & abuse: Mondays at 4:00pm in our St. Mary's office. Contact June or Laura for more information: 301-475-8860.

ADHD/Asperger Social Skills Group for children ages 5-8. Begins in January at our La Plata office. Contact Ivory Roberts-Clarke or Regena Johnson for more information at 301-609-9887.