CIFFTA
Culturally Informed and Flexible Family-Based Treatment for Adolescents
Culturally Informed and Flexible Family-Based Treatment for Adolescents (CIFFTA) is an outpatient treatment designed to modify adolescent conduct problems, depression, school failure, family conflict, delinquency/violent behavior, drug use and/or risky sexual behavior. In addition to reducing risk factors, CIFFTA identifies and strengthens protective/resiliency factors.
CIFFTA combines family treatment, individual treatment, and psycho-educational modules in a highly strategic and effective manner.
CIFFTA resulted from a realization that treatments for kids and families were still not as good as they should be, in part because treatments were not systematically and explicitly addressing some of the most important experiences that families were confronting, such as discrimination, acculturation and immigration stress.
Empowering adolescents with self-harm behavior to heal and thrive.
An adolescent who is self-harming is not alone. Despite the stigma that often keeps this behavior hidden, we know that the number of self-harming adolescents is staggering.
WHY? Adolescents between the ages of 11 and 18 go through enormous changes as part of the adolescent stage of development. These changes include:
- Biological changes in the body,
- Identity development (ethnicity/acculturation, race, gender),
- Peer, intimate and sexual relationships,
- Family relationships including with parents.
In a time of such rapid change, some youth who feel marginalized, isolated, and/or are exposed to traumatic events can suffer with depression and self-harm behavior of many types.
Our team of therapists has been funded to provide counseling to adolescents and to learn about the effectiveness of these treatments. Adolescents eligible for the study can receive up to 4 months of counseling for free and will be asked to answer questions to help us understand how counseling can help.
If you are 11-18 years of age and have engaged any type of self-harm behavior (cutting, pinching, hitting self, disordered eating, and/or substance use) or know a youth who has engaged in any of these behaviors, you can call us (305 857-5839) to talk and see if our program can help you.
How is our family treatment
culturally informed?
Culture can be defined as a set of shared beliefs, values and behaviors influenced by race, ethnicity or religious affiliation. Culturally tailored messages are those that utilize the values, beliefs, and behaviors shared by a group of people to motivate their actions toward healthy endeavors and away from high risk activities. Culturally tailored interventions...
How is our family treatment
flexible?
A “One-Size-Fits-All” approach is unlikely to work for all families. There is great diversity among adolescents and families along cultural (e.g., more or less acculturated), clinical (e.g., kids with co-occurring depression, anxiety), and contextual (e.g., living in single parent families or in dangerous neighborhoods / schools) dimensions. CIFFTA includes an innovative...
Why is our treatment
family based?
CIFFTA works with the adolescents to help develop skills, motivation, and the knowledge needed to be more effective but the main focus is on stimulating the protective and healing processes in parents and families. One of the primary ways to interrupt an unhealthy trajectory and reduce the impact of difficult environments for high risk youth is...
Why Therapists like CIFFTA
Therapist