How to Coach Yourself and Others Coaching Families | Page 41

Brief Strategic Family Therapy From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The family is defined by an organizational structure that is characterized by degrees of cohesiveness, love, loyalty, and purpose as well as high levels of shared values, interests, activities, and attention to the needs of its members. Families may be considered a system, organized wholes or units made up of several interdependent and interacting parts. Each member has a significant influence on all other members. For positive change in an identified client, therefore, family members have to change the way they interact. Family therapists work with the present relationships rather than the past. They are interested in the balance families maintain between bipolar extremes that characterize dysfunctional families. Strategic refers to the development of a specific strategy, planned in advance by the therapist, to resolve the presenting problem as quickly and efficiently as possible. DESCRIPTION Brief Strategic Family Therapy (BSFT) is a short-term, problem-focused therapeutic intervention, targeting children and adolescents 6 to 17 years old, that improves youth behaviour by eliminating or reducing drug use and its associated behaviour problems and that changes the family members’ behaviours that are linked to both risk and protective factors related to substance abuse. The therapeutic process uses techniques of: PROGRAM BACKGROUND BSFT was developed at the Spanish Family Guidance Center in the Center for Family Studies, University of Miami. BSFT has been conducted at these centers since 1975. The Center for Family Studies is the Nation’s oldest and most prominent center for development and testing of minority family therapy interventions for prevention and treatment of adolescent substance abuse and related behaviour problems. It is also the Nation’s leading trainer of research-proven, family therapy for Hispanic/Latino families. INDICATED This program was developed for an indicated audience. It targets children with conduct problems, substance use, problematic family relations, and association with antisocial peers. CONTENT FOCUS ALCOHOL, ANTISOCIAL/AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOUR, ILLEGAL DRUGS, TOBACCO SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL COM PETENCE. This program addresses family risk and protective factors to problem behaviour, including substance use among adolescents. 41