Best Practices for Families with Children Who Experience Substance Abuse, Juvenile

This Best Practice Report reviews four helping modalities that specifically recognize the family as an essential agent of change: Multisystemic Therapy (MST), Brief-Strategic Family Therapy (BSFT), Multidimensional Family Therapy (MDFT), and Functional Family Therapy (FFT). This report outlines the history and development of each modality, as well as each research base, fidelity protocol, and strengths and weaknesses. They all have relatively similar histories, in that all four approaches have been in development for at least 25 years and have some level of empirical research base. Additionally, the results of a phone survey of Kansas Community-Based Service Directors are included. The survey addressed estimates of SED children receiving family therapy in the respective CMHCs, models of family therapy utilized, and barriers to family-centered service provision, among other questions. The survey results indicate that family therapy appears to be infrequently utilized among CMHCs. Barriers to utilizing family-centered service, as well as suggestions to address barriers are discussed. Finally, family therapy initiatives in the state are discussed. Current initiatives include an outcome study at two CMHCs, which is measuring the effectiveness of Family-Directed Structural Therapy, an innovative family therapy model that originated in Kansas; and the Home-Based Family Therapy Partnership, a training program for home-based family therapists which is facilitated by Kansas State University