The SMART Family Support Service
Short-term Mentalization and Relational Therapy (SMART) is a brief intervention therapy that involves the child and his/her immediate family.
The Anna Freud Centre has received a grant from the Henry Smith Charity to offer SMART to 40 families before September 2007. To date, 37 cases have been seen.
Through SMART, a therapist works with families to provide them with the essential tools necessary to improve their capacity to communicate and collaborate. In other words, the main focus of this treatment is the relationships within the family, giving family members the tools needed to resolve their problems.
To this end, the treatment seeks to address processes of understanding of each other's thoughts and feelings and their connections with behaviour.
Families come to SMART with a whole range of difficulties including behavioural problems, difficulty sleeping, difficulty with making or keeping friends, problems controlling angry outbursts and tantrums, or when there are general difficulties expressing feelings or communicating with each other.
SMART involves 10-12 sessions at fortnightly intervals, and is aimed at families with children between the ages of 7 and 18 years old.
The service is free of charge, but families are asked to participate in an evaluation to explore how the service is working. This involves the completion of a selection of questionnaires across their time in SMART. For more information about this research, please click here.
Referrals by families' GP's and schools will be given priority. However, self referrals are also welcome.
For more information please contact Sam Blackburn on 020 7443 2230 or sam.blackburn@annafreud.org. Alternatively, download the SMART flyer here. The Anna Freud Centre also offers a short course in SMART for NHS staff.
SMART is also a key component to the AFC's Renal Project.