Teaching-Family Model

Domain II · Behavioural & cognitive · Lonnie Phillips, Elaine Phillips, Montrose Wolf · 1967 · Lawrence, Kansas

What it is

TFM is a whole-programme model, not a single therapy. It started in 1967 at Achievement Place, a family-style group home for adjudicated boys in Lawrence, Kansas. The Teaching-Parents there were Lonnie and Elaine Phillips, with Montrose Wolf, Dean Fixsen and University of Kansas colleagues. The…

Format

• A. The young person's course (residential or group home)
• Typical duration: about 9 months in residence is the ideal. Home-based TFM runs 6–10 weeks at 10–15 sessions a week. It has also been used in emergency care.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Pre-service training: about 40 hours (around 1 week) of competency-based training covering theory, demonstration, behaviour rehearsal and feedback, including learning to give and accept feedback.
• Fidelity evaluation: at Boys Town, at 3, 6 and 12 months, then yearly, plus shorter minor evaluations every 3 months. These combine observation, youth interviews and consumer ratings. Individual certification usually comes after about a year.
• Agency accreditation: 18–30 months of development under a mentor agency, then an on-site review. After that, annual reports and a re-review every 3 years.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• Low return rates and dismissing negative feedback.
• Relying on vague reports such as "he was disrespectful". Get the specifics.
• Plans written for the youth rather than with them, and targets that stay the same for months.
• Forged or lost cards. Treat a missing card as a missing-skill teaching issue. Watch also for teacher fatigue. Keep the card short.
• Chains of on-going teaching with stacked point losses. If the youth is not de-escalating after one or two cycles, move to Crisis Management.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.