Training

Training packages are tailored to the needs of the recipient. As with any transfer of technology, a key set of questions focus on the level of expertise desired and the time and effort the trainee is willing to expend to truly master the new treatment. Training can range from mere “exposure” to the new treatment or wellness approach, all the way to full “certification” in the delivery of CIFFTA or Motivational Interviewing. Although the best outcomes result when CIFFTA is delivered by CIFFTA certified counselors and backed-up by all of the CIFFTA program support resources, this may not be a realistic goal for every agency.

A key is that the level of training must fit with the intensity and complexity of the counselor’s work. The level of family training required by a counselor only delivering psycho-educational interventions will be very different from the counselor providing intensive treatment to a youngster with severe drug use and/or self-harm behaviors, in a family with a history of violence. The Doherty and Baird model is very helpful in planning out the fit between the level of training needed and the intensity of family work that is planned.

CIFFTA Training Program

The 7 Step Certification Process


The full CIFFTA training leading to certification of therapists in a program consists of 7 steps and is outline below. Trainees desiring only “exposure” to the CIFFTA treatment (counselors/agencies that have not yet made the decision to fully implement or adopt CIFFTA) can choose to participate in a package consisting only of steps 1 and 5. Other training experiences can be tailored to meet the trainee’s needs.

Step 1: Access to a Training Website

Trainees will be granted access to the CIFFTA Training website for a self-guided on-line orientation. Here the trainee learns all of CIFFTA’s concepts and terms, and begins to distinguish process and content. The trainee learns about all three components (i.e., Individual, Family, and Psycho-educational) and how these components work together in synergy. Additionally the trainee begins to learn how to conceptualize a case systemically. The website provides simple quizzes to tailor the learning. This work will take approximately 6 hours.

Step 2: Face-to-Face 2-day training session

The CIFFTA training team visits the agency, engages program staff, helps the agency increase its readiness to adopt a new practice, and increases motivation to self-assess and modify current practices that are not helpful. Agency representatives are also taught how to create the tailoring report that they would want/need. This ½ day activity will be followed by the formal training in CIFFTA over the next 1 ½ days.

Step 3:

The CIFFTA training team supports the agency to create a system in which agency assessment reports are incorporated into the CIFFTA database so that tailoring reports can be generated and therapists are given access to the tailoring report and treatment recommendations.

Step 4:

The new CIFFTA-trained clinicians begin seeing families and submit recorded sessions to the CIFFTA training team for tailored adaptation of future training and coaching. Individualized feedback is provided.

Step 5:

The CIFFTA training team provides a four hour on-line workshop on coaching and further training.

Step 6:

A second two day training is provided to deliver face-to-face coaching, live supervision, and to begin to identify who should be supervising CIFFTA at the agency. Training for agency supervisors is recommended.

Step 7:

The CIFFTA training team provides ongoing coaching (explained below). Therapists become CIFFTA trained and certified. To ensure CIFFTA’s full integration into the agency, the CIFFTA training team must also continue working with the agency’s on-site supervisor.

Ongoing Supervision / Coaching


Supervision will be provided over the period of four months, during which time the recorded sessions will be discussed with the trainer/supervisor. The CIFFTA supervision covers:

  • Conceptualization of the case, which will define the strategy to tailor the engagement and intervention for each case, and
  • Discussion of techniques used in the delivery of each component (family, individual and modules)

The format of the supervision is as follows:

  • 1 group supervision session (4 participants) per week. The group supervision could be used to review tapes or to discuss concepts and techniques, or conceptualize family processes, according to the particular needs of the team members. Duration: 1 hour
  • 1 individual supervision session every four weeks. The individual supervision will provide personalized feedback about the delivery of the intervention, based on review of videotapes. Duration: 1 hour.