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The Family Therapy Training Institute of Miami (FTTIM) is renowned for providing exceptional training in Brief Strategic Family Therapy (BSFT®) to behavioral health and mental health professionals. It was founded in 2003 by our Executive Director Olga E. Hervis, who co-developed BSFT® along with Jose Szapocznik in the 1970s.
FTTIM distinguishes itself in the experience level of its director and faculty. Hervis, who also co-authored the Brief Strategic Family Therapy Training Program©, has been teaching, supervising and consulting on the model since its inception. Supported by the largest staff of BSFT Master Trainers, Hervis has trained over 1,000 individuals at multiple sites across 35 states not only in BSFT but also in related skill-building workshops.
Brief Strategic Family Therapy (BSFT®) is an award-winning evidence-based practice that treats externalizing (e.g. substance abuse, acting-out, truancy, bullying) and internalizing (e.g. depression, anxiety) symptomatology in youth aged 6-18 years while restructuring problematic family interactions. The BSFT model is a trauma sensitive, culturally competent,
strength-based model.
Within the Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse, it is one of the few models rated well-supported in all 3 of these categories: mental health, substance abuse and in home parent skills.
The BSFT model uses a structured, problem-focused, directive,
and practical approach to the treatment of child/adolescent conduct problems.
Organizations wishing to provide the model Brief Strategic Family Therapy® (BSFT®) for their clients must have BSFT competent therapists and BSFT site licensure.
For organizations that may not be quite ready to commit to full implementation and site licensing but wish to provide their therapists some beneficial BSFT skills, we offer an alternative pathway to learning some skills.
BSFT’s focus is to identify those patterns of interactions.....
Brief Strategic Family Therapy on January 28, 2020
Very commonly organizations question me as to “which kids”
While BSFT® is well recognized for significantly reducing substance
Brief Strategic Family Therapy (BSFT®) is a highly effective
Service providers across the nation ---with EBPs in hand---still tackle the issue
Recently Silvia Kaminsky, our Deputy Director and Master Trainer and Supervisor
In her soon to be published book, Brief Strategic Family Therapy
At the Family Therapy Training Institute of Miami (FTTIM)
BSFT’s primary emphasis is on identifying and modifying maladaptive patterns of family interaction that are linked to adolescents’ symptoms. The following resources point to research supporting BSFT. Some key studies are abstracted below.
The Efficacy of Brief Strategic Family Therapy in Modifying Hispanic Adolescent Behavior Problems and Substance Use.
In this study the efficacy of BSFT in reducing adolescents’ behavior problems, association with antisocial peers, marijuana use, and improving family functioning was investigated. Families were randomly assigned to either BSFT or group counseling. Conduct disorders were significantly reduced among adolescents in families receiving BSFT. Adolescents who entered treatment at clinical levels of association with antisocial peers were 2.5 times more likely to reliably improve than were adolescents in group treatment.