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School-Based Family Counseling (SBFC) is an approach to helping children succeed at school and achieve positive mental health through the integration of School Counseling and Family Counseling. SBFC is practised by a wide variety of mental health professionals (e.g. psychologists, social workers, counselors, psychiatrists, marriage and family therapists).What they all share in common is the belief that children who are struggling in school can be best helped by interventions that link family and school, the two most important institutions affecting children. SBFC is typically practised at a school site, but may be based in a community mental health agency.

Origins

The earliest pioneer of SBFC was Alfred Adler, the Austrian psychiatrist who developed 30 guidance clinics attached to schools in Vienna in the 1920's. Through these guidance clinics Adler counseled parents and teachers (often in large meetings where both groups were present) on how to help children overcome problems at home and at school. This Adlerian home-school approach to counseling was strength-based with its emphasis on helping children to develop Social Interest.

Later Developments