Functional Family Therapy (FFT) is a proven, evidence-based model that helps therapists create lasting change for families. In this blog, one clinician shares how FFT transformed not only her work with families, but her own growth as a therapist.
Family therapy is actually the reason why I chose to become a marriage and family therapist. Most of us enter this field because we have our own personal experiences within our own families. When I was 13 years old, my family needed mental health services, and they had a woman come to our home. I remember her being kind and sweet to my family and me. And I think that was the first time I realized that I wanted to help others. I wanted to do what she did. Someone who goes into people’s homes to help families.
I grew up curious to understand my own family dynamics, so I chose to pursue a master’s degree in psychology as an MFT. I trained in family therapy, working with Latino immigrant families as an MFT trainee. Even though I trained there for two years, it still felt like it was really difficult work, and I felt somewhat unsure about what to do and how to work with families.
I learned really well how to conceptualize cases from a family systems perspective. Upon graduating with my master's degree, I entered community mental health and immediately started to go into the field. I really enjoyed seeing people in their own homes. I felt privileged to enter an environment that was sacred to many families.
Then came the opportunity of a lifetime. I had been working primarily with the 0-5 population for about 4 years. The agency I worked for got sponsored by the Department of Mental Health to start the Functional Family Therapy (FFT) program. About a day before, they sent an email announcing the start of FFT and asking if anyone was interested in getting trained in FFT. I had gone to lunch with my mentor, who had initially trained me in family therapy. We were catching up, and he gave me feedback to expand my experience with a more diverse population, and not just 0-5. FFT couldn’t have come at a better time. Because, of course, I asked if I could get trained in FFT. That is when the shift in me as a person and therapist began.
From Early Inspiration to Finding the Right Model with FFT
When I got trained in FFT it was love at first training. I was very intrigued by the training and couldn’t wait to go out and implement FFT. At first, I wasn’t quite sure if I was doing the interventions right or not. But I knew I was totally loving going into people’s homes, seeing the whole family, and seeing families from a different lens. That was probably the first shift I felt as a therapist. Seeing families from a strength-based perspective. I could sense the change in me as a therapist and as a person. I noticed my life changing because I didn’t just learn to see families from a strength-based perspective, but I also started to see people in my life that way. Somehow FFT began to cause a shift in my own personal life as well. When you start to implement FFT, it really changes that way you see families. FFT doesn't just change families; it changes you as well.
Learning to See Strength Before Struggle
Then I kept seeing the families through each phases and felt impacted by the changes that I was seeing in the families too.I noticed a big shift in myself in terms of my confidence as a therapist. I felt much more competent, and better able to manage situations. It felt exciting to know what I was doing.
Then I was chosen to become the FFT site lead supervisor. I got to do externship and site-lead supervisor training. I left externship feeling even more in love with FFT because I got a family that I got to see through for motivation, behavior change, and generalization. And they closed successfully. All I could think about when I left was “FFT works”! As the FFT site lead supervisor, we have weekly ongoing group supervision. And that's probably my favorite part of being a supervisor, frankly, because the supervision is very different than your average supervision. Because one, as an FFT team, we create this environment where there's this nice cohesion, and it almost feels like we're a family. And two, being able to supervise the fidelity of the model has really made a big difference for myself and for the team.
In this kind of group supervision, we get to focus on the system and help our therapists really think systemically about the work they're doing and shift from an individualistic perspective. Sometimes the families can take us there, and we are there as a team to support each other to continue to do the family work and help families shift their perspective to a more relational perspective. And so, we really use our group supervision to be able to think about families systemically how their struggles are impacting not just the youth, but the whole family and vice versa.
At its core, FFT is grounded in a relational and systemic understanding of behavior. Rather than focusing on one individual, the model looks at patterns within the family and how interactions influence outcomes. This shift allows therapists to reframe challenges, reduce blame, and help families build more effective ways of interacting.
How Data and Fidelity Drive Success in FFT
The other component that I appreciate about FFT supervision is monitoring the fidelity of the model because the truth is with FFT, the data says everything. If we follow the data, what does the data tell us? That we must call the families within the first two days that we get a case assigned so that we are more likely to get them to show up to that first session. If we have those first three sessions within a seven-day time frame in between, we are more likely to close successfully. That’s why it has been really important for me to maintain the model’s fidelity. For the last 13 years, my team has been able to maintain an 80-100% successful closure rate. Knowing this has made supervision a lot easier for me because I know what I'm doing. I know how to guide my team. I know what we're following and what we're doing in FFT because we have such a good guide of what we're supposed to do in FFT. And we have consultants guiding us the whole way through.
Key FFT Outcomes That Drive Success:
- Contact families within 2 days of referral
- Complete first 3 sessions within 7 days
- Maintain model fidelity through supervision
- Result: 80–100% successful closure rates over time
Continuing the Work and Passing It On
So, for the last 13 years of my career, I have chosen to continue working with FFT and guiding my teams in FFT. And fairly recently, I got the opportunity to become an FFT national consultant. I couldn’t believe it. It was a dream come true. I now get to guide and train other teams in FFT. This past year I started teaching as a professor in the MFT department at CSUN AND I get to train and teach FFT for a living. I love what I do so I don’t really work for a living! I live happily in the work that I do. After 13 years, my life with FFT continues to shift. A shift that continues to help me grow, learn to lead, and live excited about sharing this knowledge with others and helping them experience their own shift in their careers.
To learn more about implementing Functional Family Therapy in your region, including training, supervision, and model certification, connect with FFT LLC.