Family Based and Group Based Psychotherapy

Family Based Therapy is an intervention used to treat the child in the context of their most important environment -- their home. The therapist works with the family to improve communication, problem solving, and conflict resolution skills. The model that is employed at our practice is known as ESFT (Ecosystemic Structural Family Therapy). Systemic family therapy is a type of therapy that emphasizes the importance of the family system in the treatment of psychological problems. This type of therapy is based on the idea that the family is a system, and that each member of the family has a role to play in that system.

ESFT is a form of family therapy, and as such, it is conducted with the entire family, not just the individual with the problem. Though the therapist will work with the family to help them understand and support the individual with the problem, there is significant individual work done with the child patient with the goal of addressing dysfunctional family dynamics that may be contributing to the patient's difficulties.

ESFT was first developed by Sal Minuchen and Marion Goldberg in the early 1970's at the University of Pennsylvania and has been used to treat a wide range of psychological problems. This model has been adopted globally but the Philadelphia area continues the tradition of providing arguably the most comprehensive training for clinicians as well as continued refinement of this model.

Though there are services based on delivering this model to families within the home, we provide an outpatient analog which is more appropriate for families with non-severe dysfunction (involving such things as abuse allegations, neglect, truancy or other legal involvement).