In Functional Family Therapy (FFT), the Motivation Phase is where families are invited to see themselves and their relationships through a more hopeful, dignity-centered lens, with less blame and more room for balanced alliances.
A helpful way to understand this phase is to ask: what has to shift before a family can truly begin the work of change? In FFT, the answer is not simply attendance, compliance, or encouragement. It is the family’s growing ability to believe that change is possible, that the therapist can help without causing harm, and that they themselves are capable and worthy of doing the work.
When training new therapists, motivating clients is often viewed as successfully encouraging families to attend therapy regularly and to engage in needed behavioral changes. In school, many of us are given little direction around this beyond conveying warmth, genuineness, compassion, and being an attuned listener.
However, in the model of FFT, those elements, along with some other skills, really encompass the model’s first phase: Engagement. FFT therapists are engaging the client family to attend therapy via increasing their sense that the therapist is both worthy of their time and competent in this work so as to be able to offer true help that does not cause harm.
Motivation, the second phase of FFT, goes further, though it contains elements of Engagement throughout, of course, because one must sustain the family’s sense of belief in their practitioner’s abilities and genuineness.
Motivation Phase is built around the belief that one cannot make true, long-standing change without first having a context in which change can be approached with courage and belief in one’s capabilities.
Simply stated: If the Engagement Phase is where FFT therapist must demonstrate they are both competent/capable of taking the family through the change process and are worth the family’s time because the therapist is thoughtful, attuned and compassionate… then Motivation is where we demonstrate to the family that they too are COMPETENT, CAPABLE, AND WORTHY.
In the Motivation Phase, FFT therapists help families:
Which do you think is a more complicated process requiring a number of specialized skills and thoughtful planning? I, and many people I come across, are far more readily accepting of others’ worth and capabilities before believing in my own.
This is especially prevalent for people with trauma(s), complicated inter-personal histories with survival at the forefront, those living in poverty, thus with less resources and more obstacles, those who have experienced oppression and marginalization, and/or those with complex emotional “baggage.”
Motivation is the phase of FFT that makes my heart sing because helping families see their dignity and worth, after so many years of NOT seeing it, is a true treasure to experience with them. And that shift in their internal belief system cannot be taken away. It is theirs now. Families who experience the Motivation Phase have, sometimes for the first time, a healthy, balanced, fair, and more realistic narrative of who they are and what their life experiences mean about who they are as a family (resilient, strong, committed, passionate, survivors).
I will share an example of how a family saw themselves at the start of a first session and how the therapist’s use of the FFT intervention, called a Theme Hint, shifted their self-blame and shame, incrementally. More work came later.
"The therapist introduced himself and made niceties with the mother and her three teens, all referred for severe truancy. Therapist finally asked, “So what brought you all to therapy? I know what the referral says, but from your perspective?”
Mom replied, with head bowed and shoulders slumped: “I was a crack user when my kids were young. We moved so much. They changed schools a lot. Sometimes they didn’t go. I think they never learned to appreciate education because of that.”
Kids had their hoods up and heads down, not wanting to be there or to talk.
The therapist said, “Wow, I did not realize how much you all survived together and how resilient you all are.”
Now, imagine the impact of that tiny hint at a new narrative about WHO this family is, rather than an over-focus on WHAT they did. What they did is low-hanging fruit – it’s on paper and everyone knows it. Why belabor it at this point? They already feel unworthy.
When feeling unworthy or incapable, we become stuck… change does NOT come when stuck or paralyzed in our lack of belief in ourselves. The impact of the therapist’s theme hint intervention in the face of mom’s disclosure of what she deemed a “shameful” past (use of “survivors” “resilient”) was this: mom looked up, had a tear, and said, “I’ve been surviving my whole life.”
And the session went from there with all the other myriad of FFT interventions at the therapist’s hands to further this new narrative for the whole family. No one can take the story of their resilience away from them now… it is theirs to hold and nurture and grow. From all of that work comes the ability to be tter understand relational patterns and eventually move into Behavior Change, the fourth phase of FFT.
Motivation Phase, both philosophically and tangibly, is a more humanistic approach. Why is that important? Why not just assess problem behaviors and offer solutions immediately?
Well, what we know is that motivation for change can only really be sustained long-term when both external and internal motivation exist.
One can motivate a person to comply with certain behavioral changes via consequences (drug screens: jail time if positive for a substance), being the family’s cheerleader (“You got this!” “If you work hard, you’ll get there!”), shaming into better behavior (“you should NOT speak to your daughter that way,” OR positive alliance with a helper and hope about themselves and the work.
Which one has longest lasting impact? Positive alliance and hope, and so these are the areas Motivation leans into heavily. This does not mean that FFT therapists don’t also cheer on their clients in Behavior Change… of course, we do. That does not mean that FFT Therapists don’t occasionally have to say, “If we don’t meet regularly, probation may extend your case.”
What it means is that cheerleading and system consequences are not our bread and butter. They may be used briefly in a moment to keep family in front of us. But once there, we move solidly and heavily into Positive Alliance (alliance to each other and therapist) and building their sense of hope about themselves, their family and this process of therapy.
In my private practice, I utilize a myriad of modalities for individual therapy, such as EMDR, CPT for PTSD and hypnotherapy. However, I always start with my FFT Motivation techniques! Whether I’m doing FFT with a family or any other modality with individuals or doing group work, I always use Motivation techniques to first build a solid foundation for positive change to occur and sustain.
Beyond the fact that Motivation Phase aligns so well with my values and beliefs that all people deserve to be seen with dignity and worth, that I am humbled in knowing that families are stronger than they are given credit for – I utilize this phase in all of my clinical approaches because it just works.
In my 23 years and counting of utilizing FFT, I can say with conviction, not only does the research support its approach and techniques, but anecdotally, I have found the Motivation Phase has positively impacted all of my clinical work. To do this phase well, you must be competently humble, see human beings with dignity and respect (even in the face of really “bad” behaviors) and you need to see the family as a unit. There is no victim or perpetrator: there is a family who needs to see how they are interconnected around their strength and beauty as much, or more so, than their dysfunction and pain. Luckily, Motivation Phase is not just a philosophy but is also a set of techniques and interventions backed by research and a long history of family personal stories of success.
For therapists and teams learning FFT, the Motivation Phase is one of the places where the model’s structure and humanity come together. To learn more about FFT and training in the model, please go to www.fftllc.com.
To learn more about implementing Functional Family Therapy in your region, including training, supervision, and model certification, connect with FFT LLC.