The English coastal city of Brighton, sometimes called London-by-the-Sea, is the focus of the first UK trial of a family intervention shown in the US to have a big impact on conduct disorder, violent acting-out, and substance abuse among young people.

Functional Family Therapy has its origins in the 1970s in the work of two young social scientists, Jim Alexander and Bruce Parsons. Data collected during the intervening 30 years have shown a significant positive effect on children’s outcomes. Endorsing FFT as a model program, Blueprints for Violence Prevention, claims that it can lower recidivism by between 25% and 60%.

Why is the program so successful? The developers and those who have endorsed their work would argue that the answer lies in the robustness of its theoretical framework.

The theory is that, good or bad, children’s behavior is a product or function of relationships and communication within the family. To make these relations, and therefore behavior, more positive the FFT therapist will steer a family’s progress through three therapeutic phases.

The first involves thinking about issues in a different light, otherwise known as “reframing”. The therapist attempts to reframe issues in order to engage and motivate the family, to raise their hopes and expectations of behavior change, increase trust and suppress negativity.

The second phase focuses on behavior change. This entails training to overcome all the familial “bad habits” associated with problem behaviors. So the family will learn how to communicate more effectively and responsively, how to find solutions to problems and to manage any potential conflict between family members.

Finally, participants pass through a generalizing phase during which young people are shown how to model the improved relationships they have with their family in relationships in other contexts, for example with peers and teachers. In this phase, the family as a whole is shown how to access community resources more effectively.

Delivered over just three months, FFT is a relatively short-term intervention. During that time, and depending on the severity of the problem, families will participate in between eight and 30 sessions. A session will usually last for an hour and can be delivered in a variety of settings – home, juvenile court, institution or clinic. Therapists are supported by a team of colleagues each with their own caseload of FFT clients.

So the logic behind the program has been shown to be effective but does it also have increasingly vital “bang for buck” potential? According to Steve Aos, an expert on the cost-effectivenes of evidence based programs, it most certainly does. He reports that although the outlay costs are $1,900 per program participant, the net saving on criminal justice and victim costs is a phenomenal $13,900 per participant.

Implementation in Brighton is a joint venture between the National Academy of Parenting Practitioners, Kings College London, the Brighton and Hove Youth Offending Team and the Sussex Partnership Trust.

Eligible participants will be aged between 11 and 18 with a history of offending, anti-social behavior and drug and alcohol misuse. Their progress and that of their families, will be monitored by the Kings College researchers.