Twelve-Step Facilitation (TSF)


Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)


Publications 

What is Twelve Step Facilitation Therapy?

The Twelve Step Facilitation Therapy is grounded in the concept of alcoholism as a spiritual and medical disease. The content of this therapy is consistent with the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).

Twelve Step Facilitation therapy has two treatment goals: to achieve abstinence from alcohol and to foster commitment to participation in AA. The TSF treatment is delivered over the course of 12 sessions. Treatment sessions are highly structured, following a similar format each week that includes symptom inquiry, review, reinforcement of AA participation, introduction and discussion of the week’s intervention and setting goals for AA participation for the next week. Patients are actively encouraged to attend AA meeting, keep journals of their AA attendance and participation.  Material introduced during the treatment sessions is complemented by reading assignments from AA literature. 

In 1989, the Treatment Research Branch of NIAA initiated a five year trial of treatments for substance abusers in an attempt to match patients to treatment to optimize treatment response. The TSF treatment was developed and a manual was created to facilitate uniform implementation in research settings.  Results of this trial proved that TSF is a highly effective treatment for substance use. Thus, the field of substance abuse treatment can be advanced through dissemination and training of the TSF treatment, in its effective form to community treatment providers and substance abuse clinicians.

The therapeutic approach underlying TSF and its manual is grounded in the principles and 12 Steps of AA. It is important to note that the TSF manual has no official relationship with or sanction from Alcoholics Anonymous. The Fellowship of AA is described in its official literature and is realized through its worldwide meetings. Alcoholics Anonymous does not sponsor or conduct research into alcoholism or its treatment or endorse any treatment program.
 

'The TSF Solution' Training Package Includes:
 
Five CD-ROMs:
Allows clinicians to view and learn how to administer the TSF therapy at their own pace. Each CD-ROM presents TSF material with multimedia features in a building block format. View supervisor and clinician didactic sessions and see extended examples of actual implementation of TSF. Then, practice and learn how to do the therapy with exercises and immediate feedback to reinforce the topic.

Each module of the CD-ROM requires approximately one hour to complete. Key topic areas include: Introduction to TSF, Acceptance, Surrender, Getting Active in Self-Help Groups and People, Places and Things. 

The CD-ROM is a self-launching program that is compatible with DOS operating systems.

Please contact abr@snet.net for more information about this product.   


The TSF Manual: 
TSF is a manual guided standardized individual treatment intended to be compatible with 12-Step philosophy of Alcohol Anonymous. However, it has no formal relationship with AA. The TSF manual was originally developed for a large multi-site national clinical trial, 'Project Match' which was initiated and administered by the treatment research branch of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).  (Click here to view Table of Contents)


TSF Session Sheets:
Used to guide delivery of the therapy in session by session format that contains helpful tools such as worksheets, homework assignments, AA Steps, lists of AA readings and recovery tasks. The Session Sheets are presented in binder format which allows the clinician to remove the sheets and use in the therapy sessions. (Click here to view the Table of Contents)