Mission Possible Program

The mission of the USF Center for Child and Family Development is achieved through a comprehensive program in School-Based Family Counseling called Mission Possible. School-Based Family Counseling is a new approach to helping at-risk children succeed at school. Many children fail at school because they are experiencing serious family problems, such as family violence, marital discord, divorce, separation, child abuse, sexual abuse, substance abuse, unemployment, life-threatening illness, or death of a family member. The traditional approaches for helping school children with family problems (school counseling that does not, or cannot address family issues or referral of the family to a community family counseling center that is not affiliated with the school) have not proven effective. Through Mission Possible, family counselors are placed at the school site and work collaboratively both with families and with school staff to help children overcome their family problems and succeed at school. The family counseling is provided by family counseling trainees and interns under the supervision of licensed Marriage, Family and Child Counselors or Psychologists. School-Based counselors may also, with their supervisors' approval, offer group counseling and classes at the Center premises, or may schedule sessions there for clients who experience difficulty in attending at the school site

Quick Facts Mission possible is one of the largest University-school partnerships in School Based Family Counseling in the United States Since 1983 more than 9,000 at risk children and their families have been served in over 100 San Francisco Bay area public, private and religious schools Grants from private foundations in excess of $500,000 have been received in support of this valuable, life-enhancing community program.

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