Advances in Family-Based Therapy with Adolescents
The Power of Youth Development Programs: Lessons from the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development
April 9, 2025
CHOOSE HIM WISELY: Research-Based Guidelines to Help Women Stay Clear of Dangerous Relationships
September 23, 2025
When:
Friday, September 26th, 2025
11:00am-1pm Eastern
Where:
Zoom
Registration:
For Continuing Education: $35
Free general registration
Register Here:
Following registration, you will be sent the zoom link.
Continuing Education Registration:
For payment for CEs:
About:
Family-based interventions are powerful in treating behavioral, substance use, and mental health presenting problems in adolescents and in strengthening family relationships. For diverse clients with unique life stressors and those whose cultural backgrounds emphasize a strong family orientation, these interventions are particularly attractive and ecologically valid.
Our Culturally Informed and Flexible Family-Based Treatment for Adolescents (CIFFTA) is a multi-component adaptive family treatment focused on reducing adolescent behavior problems (i.e., substance use, self-harm), working with culturally relevant themes (e.g., discrimination and acculturation stressors), and strengthening core family processes (e.g., parenting and family support).
Family treatments are most powerful and effective when they can mobilize protective and healing factors. It takes special skill to do this while avoiding some of common traps in family work. An important innovation is our online platform using simulated families so that we can help therapist learn and practice the skills needed to work effectively with Latine families. By building our own simulations, we can incorporate culture-related experiences and circumstances.
Learning Objectives:
- Identify unique stressors impacting the life of adolescents.
- Describe ways of engaging reluctant family members into treatment.
- Describe ways of mobilizing protective family processes.
Daniel A. Santisteban, PhD, is Cofounder and Director of Research at Training and Implementation Associates and Professor Emeritus at the University of Miami. A leading researcher in culturally informed adolescent and family therapy since the 1990s, he developed the Culturally Informed and Flexible Family-Based Treatment for Adolescents (CIFFTA). His current work centers on creating and testing an evidence-based platform for training, coaching, and implementation that incorporates clinical simulations.
Dr. Santisteban has authored over 50 articles and chapters and co-edited Family Psychology: Science-Based Interventions. His contributions to research on family therapy outcomes, family processes, cultural competence, adolescent co-occurring disorders, and the integration of research with clinical practice have earned him career awards from the American Family Therapy Association, the National Hispanic Science Network, and Division 45 of the American Psychological Association. He has also received the 2004 American Family Therapy Academy Award for Distinguished Contribution to Family Systems Research and the 2012 University of Miami Civic Engagement Award.
He has served on NIH grant review committees, treatment guidelines panels, and journal editorial boards, and continues to consult with state agencies on implementing evidence-based practices.
Important Links:
- linkedin.com/in/daniel-a-santisteban-4a333830
- https://tiainternational.org/
- New Book- Family-Based Therapy for Latine Adolescents: The CIFFTA Model
CE BROKER COURSE 20-1323675
-
All CEs require additional steps during registration including a pre-training survey, a $35 fee, and an evaluation form returned to us following the training.
Continuing Education (CE) information:
- 2 CE for Psychologists through APA.
- 2 CE for School Psychologists through NASP.
*Florida License Only - 2 Credit Hours provided for LCSW, LMHC & LMFT in the State of Florida only.
*Upon request, The Melissa Institute will provide a certificate of completion that can be self-reported to other state boards. We cannot guarantee that it will be accepted by other boards for approval.
The Melissa Institute is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists and maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
Important Disclosure:
None of the planners or presenters of this educational activity have any relevant financial relationships to disclose with ineligible companies, defined as those whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.
For the purposes of this disclosure, financial relationships are considered relevant when the content an individual can control is related to the business lines or products of such ineligible companies.