The Family Foundation School

In my life before The Family School I was extremely self-centered. I hurt everyone around me to get what I wanted and got a lot of negative attention by acting like a psycho. I had no interest in God because he probably didn't want me to steal, lie, cheat, or use substances.

A.C.

My life became unmanageable early on. I was kicked out of 8th grade for drinking and drugging, and a year later was thrown out of 9th grade for the same reasons. I also owed thousands of dollars in gambling debt and spent my life running from those I owed money to.

A.H.

Before FFS, my life was unmanageable and out of control. I was shooting heroin, selling drugs, stealing, and lying to my parents. I did anything to blind me from reality because I hated who I had become.

C.B.

At home I was an overeater and extremely overweight. Going to school was the last thing on my mind. I stayed home and slept all day, then got up and stayed out all night. I was rude and disrespectful and had fits of temper.

D.W.

At home I perfected the art of quitting. My attempts at sports, school, and relationships amounted to nothing but pathetic stories because I never followed through. I did not like myself and wanted to escape the judgment of others.

J.C.

My life at home was full of lies and deceit. I became part of the tough crowd in middle school, and in high school I was in and out of detention, got into bad relationships, ran away and was sent to a psych ward.

J.G.

To put it bluntly, I was a drunk. I didn't care about my family, or God, just drinking and smoking. I was drug-tested for the first time at 12, at 13 I was in outpatient rehab, and at 15 I was sent to wilderness and then to The Family School.

J.M.

I was 15 and my mother was driving me to the hospital. She was crying, but all I could think of was what a good job I had done not eating. I felt no remorse, only the desire to leave and continue killing myself.

M.R.

I am an alcoholic and a drug addict who couldn't live life on life's terms, so I drank. When my dad was diagnosed with cancer, I was introduced to heavier drugs and started stealing and selling his pain medication.

R.B.

I was empty, angry, miserable, and lonely at home, and used any means possible to numb my feelings. I dropped out of school. Nothing really mattered, and I was quickly using up my friends and family.

V.K.

Group Counseling

The therapeutic milieu of the school can't help but change the emotional and social functioning of students, which in turn changes their behavior. Students develop and strengthen their ability to be absolutely honest and accountable as they listen to, relate to, and encourage one another throughout the school day, in weekly peer group counseling sessions, at mealtime, and in special support groups.

Peer Group Counseling

All students attend weekly group counseling sessions comprised of five to eight students, all from the same FFS house. A staff counselor, also from that house, facilitates the group, which provides an opportunity for students to delve more deeply into issues in an intimate setting. Using worksheets, exercises, and open-ended discussion, the counselor guides students in examining their negative behavior and thinking, and in looking at ways to express their ideas and feelings more appropriately. Peer group counseling is a good example of the school's emphasis on cognitive behavioral techniques to bring about behavioral changes. These small, close-knit groups honor the tradition of anonymity, which fosters a sense of trust and support that extends to the students' interactions with one another outside the group, and to the student body as a whole.

Table Topics

Peer group counseling as it is practiced at The Family Foundation School includes daily "table topics" during most lunches and dinners, in which the day-to-day behavior and progress of a student is reviewed by staff and students in their FFS house.

Table topics are extremely helpful to students working to change their behavior. They provide an opportunity to give and receive feedback on their struggles, and to experience both the rewards and consequences of their actions. The group helps produce behavioral changes, and helps students change their thinking about behavior-an important step in their recovery.

Table topics also:

  • demonstrate that one's actions have consequences
  • allow students to reflect on their own behavior and motivations
  • teach students to take inventory and to provide and receive constructive feedback
  • show students how to use the Steps to manage and improve their lives
  • help students develop self-management skills using behavioral principles
  • solidify and support behavioral changes as students prepare to leave

Special Support Groups

In addition to the regular peer group sessions each week, students may also participate in one of several support groups that deal with the specific issues of adoption, anger, eating disorders, social anxiety, and grief. Students may be recommended for a support group after their initial diagnostic evaluation, or later by their FFS family leaders or house counselor.

Anger Management Group
Facilitator: Jeff Brain, MA, CTS, CEP
Developed for students with a history of difficulty managing their anger, this education and support group uses a copyrighted multi-media curriculum designed by Jeff. The group is given information, instruction and strategies for managing anger, and support one another through shared experiences.

Social Anxiety Group
Facilitator: Marcia Ertola, MSEd
Friendship Factor is a cognitive-behavioral group for students who experience social anxiety. The group discusses causes of social anxiety such as genetics, family environment and difficult life experiences, and explores ways to manage it including in-session exposure, cognitive restructuring (challenging one's beliefs), homework assignments and social skills training. Students are encouraged to challenge themselves within their respective houses, as well as in the broader school atmosphere.

Grief Group
Facilitator: Jeff Brain, MA, CTS
This group offers support for students who have suffered the loss of a parent, grandparent, sibling or other loved one. The group works through the stages of grief and ultimately assists the student in accepting the loss and moving on.

Adoption Group
Facilitator: Carlton Williams
Students in this group discuss adoption triggers and core issues for all family members, regardless of the circumstances of the adoption or the characteristics of the participants. Core issues discussed are loss, rejection, identity and intimacy. The similarities among adopted students generate good dialogue within the group. It is not the intent of the group to question adoption, but to challenge some of its assumptions.

Eating Disorder Group
Facilitator: Marcia Ertola, MSEd
This is a weekly counseling session that utilizes a cognitive behavioral approach as students discuss body and eating issues, negative automatic thoughts, memories, perceptions, emotions, and cognitive events that lead to their disordered eating. The group uses media, meditation exercises, and written assignments to reframe and 'reprogram' cognitive distortions related to eating and body image.

12-Step Meetings

The school's therapeutic milieu, in which counseling and the 12 Steps are well integrated, is an environment especially beneficial to those students recovering from drug, alcohol or food addiction. While all students learn to apply the principles of the 12 Steps to their lives, recovering addicts can attend weekly A.A. meetings on and off campus, and on-campus O.A. (Overeaters Anonymous) and E.A. (Emotions Anonymous) meetings for additional 12- Step support.

My dear staff of the FFS -

Each of you have given of yourselves, not to my Anna only, but to children upon children - to offer them a vision, a dream, of another life.

You have given my daughter and our family something we alone could not. At first I resented this (the mother in me) but I healed as Anna was "raised form the dead" in your corporate hands, I came to recognize the gift and grace of FFS.

Please forgive my early blindness and rejoice with us as we welcome Anna home. I will remember you all with the utmost respect and affection. In humble gratitude, Amy Clutcher (mother of Anna, graduation class of Dec 2008).