Brief Strategic Family Therapy® Expanding in EuropeFocused on adolescent populations, the BSFT™ Program, developed by José Szapocznik, Ph.D., is a structured, problem-focused, directive, and practical approach effective in changing the family system in order to reduce the risk factors that contribute to substance abuse, violence, and other juvenile crime.
Senior BSFT™ Program Trainer Mónica Zárate, who is based in Miami, recently traveled to Linköping for the second time to deliver a BSFT™ workshop to BSFT™ trainees, who average an optimal five years out of their masters degrees in social work. The program and related outreach are in the early stages, starting part-time with several families; the goal is to soon have full BSFT™ case loads, and to deliver office and home-based therapy. Zárate is excited to facilitate the former social workers and individual therapists’ evolution into BSFT™ family-focused professionals. She noted that troubled Swedish adolescents reflect universal issues such as substance usage, truancy, and family conflict. Unlike many American community clinics, the Linköping facility treats all levels of socioeconomic strata.
Brief Strategic Family Therapy® programs are expanding globally. Embracing the BSFT™ program, Maria Ungdom (Stockholm) officials are collaborating with the BSFT™ Institute (Miami), Springwell Centre in Northern Ireland and Mondriaan in the Netherlands to submit an application to the European Union for funding the BSFT™ evidence-based practice with a hub in Stockholm and radiating throughout Europe. Stay tuned for more international news!
* * * * * * * * * The BSFT™ Program is a short-term, structured, problem-focused, and practical approach to the treatment of conduct problems, associations with antisocial peers, early drug use and the accompanying maladaptive family interactions (relations), all of which are recognized risk factors for substance abuse. The BSFT™ Program is designed to engage and keep the family interested in the program by focusing on the problem behaviors of the at risk youth. The BSFT™ Program is delivered in 12 to 16 weekly sessions. The BSFT™ Program involves all family members and seeks to change the way they act toward each other. The BSFT™ Program provides families with the tools to overcome individual and family risk factors through: 1) focused sessions to improve maladaptive patterns of family interaction, and 2) skills building strategies to strengthen families. The BSFT™ Program was developed and has been conducted at the Center for Family Studies (Miami, FL) since 1972. The Center for Family Studies is America’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 behavior problems. Originally developed for Hispanic families, the model has been adapted for use with other ethnic populations, including African American, German, and Swedish families. The BSFT™ program also has been widely used with Caucasian families; research is currently ongoing with this population.
* * * * * * * * * To learn more about Brief Strategic Family Therapy® or the NREPP review (www.nrepp.samhsa.gov/ViewIntervention.aspx?id=151), please contact: Brief Strategic Family Therapy® Institute, Center for Family Studies, University of Miami, 1425 NW 10th Avenue, Miami, FL 33136 USA | (305) 243-7585 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) BSFT™ Program at Crosswinds Youth Services Awarded Prestigious SAMHSA Award
Their BSFT™ Program began accepting clients in December, 2007. Focused on adolescent populations, the BSFT™ Program was developed at the Center for Family Studies, University of Miami. Crosswinds chose the structured, problem-focused, directive, and practical approach based on its effectiveness in changing the family system itself in order to reduce the risk factors that contribute to substance abuse, violence, and other juvenile crime.
Over three years, the Crosswinds BSFT™ team has worked with 172 BSFT™ clients and 73% have been closed successfully. Cases were referred from the Brevard County Department of Probation, Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) Circuit 18. The DJJ Benchmark for successful program completion is 70%. For a case to be classified as successful, the client’s record is reviewed to ensure that no new charges have been filed, and a drug screen is administered to determine whether the substance using behaviors have ceased, or have been reduced. All successful cases are then reviewed at six months and one year intervals to determine if new charges were filed, or if there has been a violation of probation. During the 2008-2009 fiscal year 77.6% of all clients discharged were discharged successfully. The team’s preparation and presentations resulted in Crosswinds’ selection, placing them in the company of fellow 2010 winner University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine and 2009 winner Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Upon learning Crosswinds had been given the SAMHSA award, Dr. Muir exclaimed, “the Crosswinds BSFT™ team are winners because they are blazing the trail to show how prevention and treatment of substance abuse can be implemented!” Crosswinds BSFT™ Program Director Denny shared, “we knew we had a great program in place, and are very happy to receive this national recognition.” Recognizing their exemplary program implementation, BSFT™ Institute Senior Trainer Monica Zarate encouraged Crosswinds BSFT™ Program Director Stephen “Kris” Denny to apply for this prestigious award. They teamed with BSFT™ Institute Associate Director Joan Muir, Ph.D. and Crosswinds C.O.O. Karen Locke to prepare for the rigorous SAMHSA site visit in September 2010. Joining them was Rick Morris, with Evidence-Based Associates, which manages the Florida Redirections Program BSFT™ contract and Dan Rodgers, Chief Probation Officer with the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, Circuit 18. In 2004, the State of Florida DJJ contracted with Evidence-Based Associates to launch the Redirection project in an effort to "redirect" troubled youth from residential placements to more effective, family-focused, evidence-based treatment options, such as the BSFT™ program.
For more information about the BSFT™ Program, please visit www.BSFT.org To learn more about the SAMHSA Science and Service Awards, visit www.samhsa.gov/scienceandservice BSFT™ PROGRAM DEVELOPER TO PRESENT AT BLUEPRINTS CONFERENCE
Join BSFT™ Program Developer José Szapocznik, Ph.D. April 7-9, 2010 in the historic city of San Antonio, Texas for the third annual Blueprints Conference. Dr. Szapocznik who is also Professor and Chair of University of Miami's Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, will be presenting Thursday morning, April 8, 2010 the BSFT™ Program and hosting the "Meet the Developer" hospitality suite Wednesday evening, April 7 at the Marriott Rivercenter hotel on the San Antonio River Walk. Blueprints attendees are invited to visit the BSFT™ Program Suite and exhibit booth, which will be open during the conference. To receive additional event details, please email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Dr. Szapocznik will present findings from the largest randomized clinical trial of the BSFT™ Program conducted by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Clinical Trials Network (CTN) and implemented at community substance abuse treatment centers in seven states and the territory of Puerto Rico. The sample consisted of 1,894 individuals, including 480 families of adolescents with drug use and behavior problems. This trial, which ended in 2008, yielded a number of findings. RECLAIMING THE CHILD, RECONNECTING THE FAMILYBy Dwayne Campbell | Photos by John Zillioux
Brief Strategic Family Therapy®, a highly effective and practical short-term intervention to improve youth behavior that was pioneered at the Miller School, enables families to rediscover the love obscured by hurt. For months on end, Roberto’s bedroom was a place of refuge. In his family’s small apartment, his room was where he could watch TV, talk on the phone with his girlfriend, and send text messages without risking an argument with his dad. In this safe haven, father and son would not cross paths. To make matters worse, the once close relationship with his mother was under strain. She seemed to be always complaining—about his grades, about his staying out too late with the wrong crowd, about his “attitude” that seemed to be abandoning strong Nicaraguan values for Miami laissez faire. At times she wondered if he was involved with drugs. But after a while, living like a prisoner with privileges was becoming too much for an outgoing boy who saw himself as a typical teen—no different from the majority of kids in his neighborhood who dressed with a cool urban edge and communicated effortlessly in two languages. He also never used drugs, but spent his free time promoting teenage dances. “My mom wasn’t trusting me anymore. She believed she was always right,” recalls Roberto. “My dad has a really strong personality and I have a really strong personality, so we would always bump heads. To prevent that we just wouldn’t talk,” he says, pausing to choke back tears from the vivid memories. “It shouldn’t have been that way.” As the disagreements with his mother, Amanda, grew louder and the relationship with his father, Nelson, more silent, Roberto, then 16, suggested the family seek therapy, something he had experienced about five years earlier when his grandmother’s death was too much to bear. “At that point I was going through a lot, and some of that therapy was helpful,” says Roberto, who had spent summers in Nicaragua with his grandmother and had grown very close to her. “It didn’t solve all our problems, but I was thinking we should give it another try.” It was several weeks before Amanda took her son seriously and called Regis House, a community-based nonprofit organization that provides family support and various counseling services for children. And it so happened that at Regis House, two therapists were recently trained and certified in Brief Strategic Family Therapy® (BSFT™) Program by the Miller School of Medicine. Based on the prescreening results, the therapist thought the BSFT™ Program could help the troubled family. The BSFT™ Program is an intervention used to treat adolescents with problem behaviors, including family conflict, association with anti-social peers, and delinquency. It is especially useful for adolescents with problem behavior and drug abuse. Administered by the BSFT™ Program Training Institute of the University of Miami Center for Family Studies, the BSFT™ Program has gained national and worldwide attention and since 2002 has been endorsed by the United States Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention as an “outstanding therapy model” and by the National Institute on Drug Abuse in its Therapy Manuals for Drug Addiction. The BSFT™ Program was pioneered at the University of Miami over three decades ago by José Szapocznik, Ph.D., now professor and chair of epidemiology and public health, based on surveys used to gauge the orientation of Cuban immigrants in Miami. Research showed that cultural conflicts were significant and while parents were attempting to hold on to hierarchical dominance and old-country ways, their children were adapting quickly to the language, lifestyle, and, sometimes, the vices of the new country. “A lot of these kids were using club drugs, and there was significant intergenerational conflict that had a cultural flavor—parents were staying in one culture and the kids were growing up in another,” says Szapocznik, who led the UM study that looked at the cultural values of the Cuban adolescents and what intervention might best serve them.
Szapocznik, who is also director of the BSFT™ Program Training Institute, says the early research showed “many of the values of the Cuban population were those of families in crisis, similar to what you’d find in poor families in distressed communities in this country.” What became clear to the researchers was that even when a child was exhibiting serious behavior problems, the “familial” bonds were such that immediate family members or guardians retained their importance and had the potential to positively affect the outcome when included in the therapy process. This became the basis of the BSFT™ Program, which operates on the belief that family members are interdependent and parents generally have the child’s best interest at heart. Using well-known therapist Salvador Minuchin’s structural family therapy as a platform, the BSFT™ Program began taking shape and standing apart because of its program of research that adopted existing therapies to be used with families from diverse cultures. Under Szapocznik’s leadership, the BSFT™ Program has become a widely respected evidence-based practice (UM faculty introduced the BSFT™ Program at a conference in Sweden last September) and attracted funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The federal agency has supported three major studies focusing on the difficult task of getting whole families, including rebellious teens, into treatment. The studies and tests show that Hispanic and African-American families benefit immensely from the BSFT™ Program because of the strong family bonds in both ethnic groups. On a September evening in 2007, Amanda and Roberto made their first visit to Regis House. That’s when they met therapist Luisa Ramirez, M.S.W., who would employ her BSFT™ Program skills to help strengthen the family. But there was a snag. The BSFT™ Program requires that all family members central to an adolescent’s life be involved in the therapy, which, depending on progress, could last anywhere from 12 to 16 weeks. Nelson, Amanda insisted, would not take part. But for Ramirez to observe the family’s “patterns of interaction,” an integral part of the BSFT™ Program, she first had to “engage” them—including Nelson. Ramirez got past Amanda’s hesitation and secured her permission to call Nelson. “I wasn’t sure about doing any of this, but she convinced me I should be a part of it, that I should do it for my son,” Nelson says. “You really have to engage each and every one of the family members, and that’s something we’re passionate about in the BSFT™ Program,” explains the BSFT™ Institute’s Maria Tapia, LCSW, who helped train Ramirez. “The BSFT™ Program can happen fairly quickly, but it works because it is so strategic,” Tapia adds. “For example, Luisa had to validate the mother before Amanda would feel comfortable having Luisa reach out to the father. The whole idea is to change the family’s repetitive patterns of interactions that get them into trouble.” At home, Nelson displayed his frustration over a lack of consistent work and a son he thought was disrespectful, and Amanda worked long hours and came home to a house of tension. “There was so much going on at home, and it felt like I was being blamed,” says Roberto, now 18. As they went through the BSFT™ Program the family discovered much about itself. “I was kind of upset when we started, but as it went along I started to understand,” says Nelson. “I realized that there were many things interrupting our father-son relationship. There were money issues, and I found out that conflict in the relationship between my wife and I prevented us from giving him the attention he needed.” “Money was influencing how we were as a family, but Nelson didn’t understand that until we started therapy,” Amanda says. “There was poor communica-tion between us, and that affected our son. So much about how we affected him came out [in therapy].” Though the BSFT™ Program normally delivers very timely results, Ramirez wasn’t expecting what she called a “breakthrough moment” in the third session. “We reached a moment that seemed like it was created for us,” says Nelson. “My son and I embraced. We hugged, we cried. I saw very clearly that regardless of what was happening, all he wanted was for us to be a family.” Amanda was also overcome by the memory. “It was that moment we realized a lot of things about ourselves as a couple, things we didn’t think he knew,” says Amanda. “That made me feel really bad. But this was a time to look at all the bad things that were happening and let it all out. For the first time in a long while I really listened to my son.” Though it was months later, the discussion reopened the emotional gates. “This one session was special,” says Roberto. “I remember how we hugged. I remember how we cried.” Essentially, with the family involved, the BSFT™ Program shifts family members from the conventional notion of “fixing the problem child” to changing the way family members behave with each other—helping them to find the love hidden behind the hurt. Included in that, in Roberto’s case, is “detriangulation,” a process that extracts the child from the problems of the couple. “The BSFT™ Program changes the relationship to what we’re hoping will lead to protecting the kids inside and outside the family,” says Joan A. Muir, Ph.D., associate director of the BSFT™ Program Training Institute at the Miller School. “At the same time, we are not blaming the parents; we help them behave differently in the family to restore them to parental roles. “We are not trying to tell parents what to do, we are leaving them healthier with the idea that they will be able to solve the problems their kids have, whether they were abused, have learning problems, are in need of medication. … We don’t prescribe those things. We prescribe getting a healthier family so the family solves those problems. That’s why it’s revolutionary.” The Miller School is now working on spreading that revolution, albeit with caution to ensure fidelity to the model. Through the Center for Family Studies, the BSFT™ Program Training Institute has embarked on training community therapists locally, nationally, and some abroad, in a process that takes six to eight months. “Families have problems, but that’s not how they want it to be,” says Ramirez. “The BSFT™ Program works because even though parents come in to save their child, we are using a model designed to save the family. I remember Nelson saying to me, ‘Thank you for giving my son back to me.’ I said, ‘You took your son back.’” For Roberto, his house is a home again. “Before therapy, I would lock myself in my room just to prevent any arguments,” Roberto says. “Now the vibe is different. We are interacting more. We are talking more. There’s life in the house.”
BSFT™ PROGRAM AGENCY RECOGNIZES EXCELLENCE
Since the 1970s, community agency Crosswinds Youth Services (Cocoa, FL) has been creating opportunities for young people to succeed. Crosswinds is part of Florida’s “Redirection Program,” launched in 2004 by its Department of Juvenile Justice to “redirect” troubled youth from residential placements to more effective, family-focused, evidence-based treatment. The BSFT™ Program has been implemented at Crosswinds since November, 2007. BSFT™ Program-certified On-site Supervisor Stephen “Kris” Denny was awarded Crosswinds’ “2009 Manager of the Year” at this nationally recognized agency, located an hour east of Orlando, Florida. All of Kris’ therapeutic work is in the BSFT™ Program. He was recognized for meeting all his benchmarks, striving to get his BSFT™ Program team certified, and his top scores in client satisfaction based on end-of-treatment audit. Prior to receiving the Manager’s award, Kris was promoted to Program Director from Program Coordinator. Kris credits the University of Miami for making the BSFT™ Program a “real success story” because he was sent to a full day of Professional Development and Training at the University, in addition to the full complement of BSFT™ Program workshops and ongoing supervision and consultations. Kris believes that his management skills improved significantly after the individualized training. According to Kris, “The BSFT™ Program enables the therapist to get right to the core of the issue” to determine the reasons that problems are occurring. He believes that the unique BSFT™ Program methodology allows him to “make real permanent change with the family.” Furthermore, Kris noted that his fellow BSFT™ Program therapists, Amanda Loken and John Weimann “get excited as they see changes happening with the family.” COMPLIMENTARY CONSULTATIONBrief Strategic Family Therapy® Institute has provided BSFT™ Program training, supervision, consultation and licensure to community agencies in over 40 states and other countries ranging from Australia to Sweden. Our research program began in 1972. If you are a decision-making legislator, judicial officer, clinical director or foundation executive, consider the cost effectiveness of the BSFT™ Program’s well-designed and tested family program. Contact us at 305-243-7585 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) to receive your complimentary consultation in which we can discuss your specific objectives and situation and the Brief Strategic Family Therapy® Institute can provide a no-obligation, no-charge, customized proposal that meets your specific criteria. BSFT™ PROGRAM SPONSORS CRADLE-TO-PRISON PIPLELINE® FORUM, 10/02/2009
Over 200 people assembled at the University of Miami’s Medical Campus on October 2 to examine the current state of juvenile justice in Miami-Dade County (Florida). Organized by the Circuit 11 Juvenile Justice Board in collaboration with The Children’s Trust and the Brief Strategic Family Therapy® Institute (BSFT™), the purpose of the event was to develop a juvenile justice strategic plan and legislative agenda for dismantling the “Cradle-To-Prison Pipeline®” in the community. A wide array of stakeholders attended including youth, parents, relative care-givers, policy makers, faith-based leaders, educator, law enforcement, activists and community leaders. Ruban Roberts, M.S.W., a Senior Trainer with the Brief Strategic Family Therapy® Institute, co-chaired the Forum and moderated several panels featuring lively and passionate discussion about juvenile justice services, early intervention, disproportionate minority contact, zero tolerance, faith and community based solutions, parental involvement and more. The Forum featured a video presentation by Marian Wright Edelman, President of the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) and developer of the "Cradle to Prison Pipeline®" Campaign to reduce detention and incarceration by increasing preventive supports and services children need, such as access to quality early childhood development and education services and accessible, comprehensive health and mental health coverage. The CDF states that “Nationally, 1 in 3 Black and 1 in 6 Latino boys born in 2001 are at risk of imprisonment during their lifetime.”. Mrs. Edelman encouraged her listeners to “act to stop the growing criminalization of children at younger and younger ages, and tackle the unjust treatment of minority youths and adults in the juvenile and adult criminal justice systems with urgency and persistence.” The Forum’s featured speaker was Ms. Adora Obi Nweze, President of the Florida State Conference NAACP. As a keynote speaker and as part of each individual speaker panel, Ms. Nweze fervently advocated to the rapt audience that “the criminalization of children must be stopped!” Rallying the 200 plus attendees to strongly contribute to the break-out sessions during the afternoon, the audience heard a rousing speech by Deputy Secretary Rod Love, of the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice. He charged all attendees to “continue to advocate” and to be “trailblazers.. not caretakers.”
BSFT™ PROGRAM CONFERENCE IN SWEDEN
Brief Strategic Family Therapy®
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_and_Univerisity_of_Miami_BSFT_team.jpg "Maria Ungdom (Sweden) and Univ. of Miami BSFT Team")
According to Joan Muir, Ph.D., Associate Director of the BSFT™ Institute, the Swedish connection began in 2007 while training therapists at Maria Ungdom (Maria Youth Centre) in Stockholm. Focused on evidenced base practices, Maria Ungdom stands as a national model for treatment to adolescents with substance abuse problems. In 2009 leaders from Maria Ungdom and the Miami BSFT™ Institute jointly presented the “Conference to Introduce Brief Strategic Family Therapy®” (
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NREPP REVIEWS BSFT™ PROGRAM 12/01/08
The National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP), a service of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has reviewed several BSFT™ Program studies and outcomes. NREPP analyzed engagement in therapy, conduct problems, socialized aggression (delinquency in the company of peers), substance use and family functioning.
The NREPP review, posted on their website, noted that the BSFT™ Program has been implemented at approximately 100 sites in the United States, as well as in Germany and Sweden, and has served more than 2,500 families. Dr. José Szapocznik, the Brief Strategic Family Therapy® Institute’s Director and Developer stated, "It is gratifying to receive such a comprehensive overview regarding a model that we have been developing and evolving for over 30 years."
Regarding engagement, in one study, families who received the BSFT™ Program were significantly more engaged in therapy than families in the comparison groups, who received standard family therapy or standard group therapy. Concerning conduct, in one study adolescents who participated in the BSFT™ Program showed a significantly greater reduction in conduct problems than adolescents in the comparison condition, who received a participatory-learning group intervention With regard to delinquency in the company of peers, one study indicated that adolescents who participated in the BSFT™ Program showed a significantly greater reduction in socialized aggression than adolescents in the comparison condition, who received a participatory-learning group intervention. With reference to substance abuse, in one study, adolescents who participated in the BSFT™ Program showed significantly greater reductions in marijuana use than adolescents in the comparison group, who received a participatory-learning group intervention. Finally, with regard to family functioning, in one study adolescents who participated in the BSFT™ Program reported significantly better family functioning on the Family Environment Scale (FES) Cohesion scale than adolescents in the comparison group, who received a participatory-learning group intervention.
The complete NREPP review, which covers additional description of measures, key findings, studies measuring outcomes, study designs and quality of research ratings, is available on the NREPP website.
The BSFT™ Program is a short-term, structured, problem-focused, and practical approach to the treatment of conduct problems, associations with antisocial peers, early drug use and the accompanying maladaptive family interactions (relations), all of which are recognized risk factors for substance abuse. The BSFT™ Program is designed to engage and keep the family interested in the program by focusing on the problem behaviors of the at risk youth. The BSFT™ Program is delivered in 12 to 16 weekly sessions. The BSFT™ Program involves all family members and seeks to change the way they act toward each other. The BSFT™ Program provides families with the tools to overcome individual and family risk factors through: 1) focused sessions to improve maladaptive patterns of family interaction, and 2) skills building strategies to strengthen families. The BSFT™ Program was developed and has been conducted at the Center for Family Studies (Miami, FL) since 1972. 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 behavior problems. It is also the nation’s leading trainer of research-proven family therapy for Hispanic and African-American families.
To learn more about Brief Strategic Family Therapy® or the NREPP review, please contact: Brief Strategic Family Therapy® Institute, Center for Family Studies, University of Miami, 1425 NW 10th Avenue, Miami, FL 33136 USA | (305) 243-7585 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
