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NewsFamily therapy saves kids, moneyJuly 2008 Florida Weekly By Michelle L. Start Designed to help entire families, the functional family therapy being offered by Lee Mental Health is showing promising results. Functional family therapy is for families of children dealing with conduct disorders, oppositional defiance disorders, disruptive behavior, drug/alcohol abuse, delinquency or violence. "Evidence Based Associates started the initiative here in Florida," said Katie Moore, functional family therapy supervisor at Lee Mental Health. "It's being used to redirect kids from going to commitment programs and it saves the state money." Therapists meet with families wherever and whenever is convenient. Moore said she once met with a family on a box in front of a trailer in a dirt area. The therapy does not cost the families anything. "Typically when a child gets into trouble, everything gets focused on that child," said Michael McNally, vice president of community relations for Lee Mental Health. "But, this model has a view of working with the entire family and not singling out that child." Despite the focus on the entire family instead of the child experiencing problems, the program has proven successful. Since it was implemented 19 months ago, officials said that 84 percent of the youth being served have gone without any new law violations. Other organizations that have used the program over a long period of time have shown that about one-third of the children involved in functional family therapy are never convicted of a felony and 36 percent are less likely to be sentenced to residential commitment or adult prison. The program is geared toward the families of children between the ages of 11 and 18. Traditional commitment costs about $16,000 for 90 days. The therapy program costs the state about $4,000 for the same 90-day period. Since implementing Functional Family Therapy, Lee Mental Health has served 130 kids and has a 74 percent completion rate. Families meet with their therapist at least once a week during the course of the program. "We're trying to build the family bond, help them to experience each other differently, change maladjusted strategies and reassign meaning to them," said Moore. "We really try to reduce negativity and blame right away. We try to build hope and trust between them. Then, we try to implement behavior change plans based on the dynamics that already exist in the family. We shift into communication and problem solving, improve parenting skills but based on how they already exist in their family. The last phase is the generalization phase where we apply these strategies to other areas of their life. They really feel empowered to make changes on their own and to connect to community resources." |
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© 2008 Evidence-Based Associates