Intensive Family Therapy
What is the goal of Intensive Family Therapy (IFT)?
Intensive Family Therapy (IFT) is a type of short-term counseling which focuses
on improving the relationships and communication among family members. IFT uses
the family as the central role in a youth’s life to help them work through and move
past difficulties to a successful future. Therapists work with youth ages 7-21 years
old and their families, and are generally exhibiting sever acting out behaviors,
running away, breaking curfew, school truancy, strained parent child relationship,
and/or currently have a mental health diagnosis. Other issues include committing
a crime, PINS (person in need of supervision), or probation.
How long does the family participate in IFT?
IFT generally requires the family to commit to twelve family sessions or longer.
These family sessions ideally are conducted for twelve weeks in a row with the possibility
of attending two sessions a week for at least the first two weeks. We have found
that families who can commit to their family sessions regularly, have better results
in strengthening their family functioning than those who attend sporadically.
Which Restorative Justice Programs offer IFT?
Intensive Family Therapy is the main practice in:
How much does IFT cost?
The cost of IFT in all three programs listed above is free of charge.