About
The Strengthening Families Program (SFP) offers this combined Parent-Child skills training in a fun, practical way that has been shown to reduce the Risk Factors that lead to problem behaviors and increase the Protective Factors that keep kids safe.
Program History
SFP began in 1983 on a four-year prevention research grant funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The goal of the research project was to discover which parenting skills were essential for drug-abusing parents to keep their children from following their path and becoming addicted themselves. The skills were identified and combined into a class curriculum for parents and their children. The SFP program was initially tested with clients in community mental health outpatient drug treatment centers, with excellent outcomes.
Later, the SFP skills training was also found to help general or “universal” families improve their parenting skills, reduce parenting stresses and family conflict, build happy family relationships, and serve as a powerful prevention tool against youth delinquency, depression, and alcohol, tobacco, and drug use. SFP is thus beneficial for all families–not just those who are at risk.
The discovery that you could prevent addiction with family skills training was great news, as currently 1 in 8 children in the USA live with a parent with an addiction problem, making them 40% more likely to use.
SFP has been tested for over 30 years in 14+ Randomized Control Trials and found effective for both high-risk and low-risk families by independent researchers in 30 countries. SFP meets all US federal standards for evidence-based prevention programs.
SFP has been updated with new prevention research, PowerPoints, video clips, handouts, stories, songs, Mindfulness and kinesthetic learning. Dubbed “SFP 7–17 Years” it includes a Home-use video series of all the SFP lessons that families can watch together online or via a DVD. Dr. Karol Kumpfer reported that the updated group class versions have been found “amazingly effective with increased positive outcomes for adolescents compared to the regular 14-session SFP 12 to 16 Years lacking the SFP Videos.”
By changing parenting practices, the primary social environment for the child is affected. This micro-environmental change increases parent-child bonding; so not wanting to disappoint parents, the child chooses more pro-social friends. Boundaries and monitoring make drinking and drug use less available and more “costly” in terms of consequences for the child, which effectively reduces use.
By increasing capacities for emotional regulation, self-expression, and behavioral control through skills training, SFP diminishes aggression, delinquency, and anti-sociality. It does this by rerouting the brain’s behavioral paths, which often lead to impulsive acts, oppositional behavior, and aggression toward others, to pro-social behaviors which are inherently rewarding. It also gives parents and youth new communication tools to reduce “family risk factors” and diffuse the charged family situations that sometimes result in abuse or violence.
Depending on how it is taught, the updated version of SFP (SFP 7-17) can be a “universal” prevention program for low-risk families; but it can also be a “selective” or “indicated” program for higher-at-risk populations with SFP Family Coaches working more closely with families and adding extra SFP 7-17 family skills booster lessons if needed. SFP’s effectiveness is attributed to the fact that the whole family attends each week thus changing the total family system.
Risk and Protective Factors Addressed in SFP 7-17
SFP has been shown to effectively reduce Risk Factors for behavioral, emotional, academic, and social problems in children 7-17 years old because it addresses the most important Risk and Protective Factors that influence youth delinquent behavior, including the use of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs, and youth depression which is now recognized as a “developmental disorder.”
The Risk Factors that make kids more susceptible to substance abuse, delinquency, and depression are listed below followed by a list of Protective Factors “Concepts and Skills” taught in SFP 7-17 that prevent negative outcomes.
Risk Factors for substance abuse & youth mental illness addressed in SFP Skills training
- Neglect; lack of love, care, & support
Family conflict - Difficulties in communicating respectfully
- Lax or harsh discipline
- Lack of supervision
- Substance use by peers, parents, or child
- Stressful life events
- Exposure to violence/abuse
- Low expectations for school success/failure at school
- Lack of family customs, traditions
- Low self-esteem
SFP Parents and Youth Skills Training Increase Protective Factors:
- Strong, loving parent-child bonds
- A functional, well-managed home
- Mild, consistent discipline
- Clear, firm rules and consequences against substance use
- Monitoring of child’s social activities, online activities, and friends
- High expectations; involved parents
- School attendance and success
- Family customs & traditions
- Parents set a good “substance use” example
The Strengthening Families Program (SFP 7-17) skills training will help parents become nurturing caregivers, reduce stress and family conflict, build happy relationships, increase youth social and refusal skills, and serve as a powerful prevention tool against youth delinquency, depression, and alcohol and drug use. Children will be more able to succeed in life.
SFP classes have been implemented in schools, churches, drug treatment centers, family and youth service agencies, counselors’ offices, child protection, and foster care agencies, community mental health centers, housing projects, refugee services, homeless shelters, drug courts, family courts, juvenile courts, and prisons. The program has been used as an adjunct to therapy and parents in programs including Welfare to Work, incarceration to the community, residential drug treatment, and sheltered housing for battered women.
The new online gamified SFP lesson series (SFP-FindingHome.com) for parents and children ages 10-18 will add another low-cost SFP teaching tool to be able to take SFP prevention skills training to even more families via the internet. In a RCT Clinical Trial, families in the “Game” group reported significantly better outcomes than the wait-listed Control Group.
SFP 7-17 can now be effectively taught in multiple ways, extending its reach to those who cannot attend a class. SFP prevention skills training is readily available, affordable, and essential to improve child outcomes, increase school performance, and prevent the devastating ripple effect of addiction.
With community mobilization and government funding, SFP family skills prevention training–that effectively reduces youth substance abuse, depression, and delinquency–can now be taken to scale, shaping community norms and making “nurturing parenting” a new national pastime. Such a course is necessary to preserve a prosperous and safe society.
