FAQs
Read through our Frequently Asked Questions to see if we already have the answer for you! If you still need help, feel free to contact us.
FAQ Categories:
How to use Finding Home:
FIRST: Click to see a quick video on how to use the e-learning system: About Using SFP: Finding Home! Then, read more below.
1) If you are acting as the Family Lead for this e-learning game, begin by enrolling all the other family members into the Finding Home system (there’s a link in the table you’ll see when you close this pop up.)
2) Each week, each family member needs to do that week’s lesson, individually, at their own pace. We call the lessons Learn & Earns. There is a Youth track and a Parent track. Have family members begin their lessons at the first of the week. Discuss lesson goals during dinner or another meal, so you have time to practice the skills together during the week.
3) Each Learn & Earn lesson consists of several parts:
- Refresh & Remember appears at the beginning of each lesson. It helps you to reflect on and remember what you learned previously.
- Lesson Sections are gamified learning activities. They teach SFP skills that help families increase love and happiness at home and decrease conflict. There are three sections in each lesson. They take about 15 minutes per section. It’s best to start each section when you know you have time to do it. If stopped in the middle, you have to go back and start that section again.
- Family Activities are included in each lesson. Usually there are two per lesson. These are forms you fill in online. Your responses appear in the Agenda used in your Family Meeting. For example, you will be asked to list what rules you think are important for your family. Then in the Family Meeting you will discuss these.
And, then what?
Game: Each time you complete a Lesson, you earn a key that unlocks the next video game!
Family Meeting: Every week, your entire family needs to attend a Family Meeting using the Agenda. Pick a day/time that works for everyone and hold the meeting the same time each week, if possible. The Family Lead is to print (or digitally bring up) the Week’s Agenda. The Agenda has instructions on what skills to practice, what activities to do, and ideas for family discussions.
Fun Activities: Every person will also be expected to complete other fun individual activities. These include Mindfulness practice, filling out tracking forms (to keep track of your skill practice), and Love Notes you send as loving messages to others in your family.
What is the point of SFP Finding Home?
This fun, gamified version of our Strengthening Families Program is designed to help reduce family conflict, and help you create a stronger bond, as well as live a more fulfilling life as an individual.
In Strengthening Families Finding Home, there are several important tasks:
Weekly:
- You will work through three Learn & Earn lessons–learning important techniques–while earning fun rewards that you can use in the Finding Home game.
- Your family will hold weekly meetings to help strengthen your bond and reduce conflict.
- You’ll have the option to play our fun Finding Home game, using the rewards you earn during your Learn & Earn lessons to battle monsters–earning even more fun rewards!
Daily:
- Practice Mindfulness to help build your brain!
- Send Love Notes to your family to remind them that you care about them.
- Track your family’s progress in our program, using our interactive family tracking.
Define “Learn & Earn Lesson”, “Refresh & Remember” and “Lesson Topic”
The SFP Finding Home learning system used a planned set of activities that are done in a specific order, based on years of research. The course is broken into 10 “Learn & Earn” Lessons, with specific materials for Adults and Youth. Each Learn & Earn starts with a Refresh & Remember section, followed by three interactive “gamified” lesson sections interwoven with Family Activities.
- Refresh & Remember sections are designed to remind you of what your learned in previous Learn & Earn lessons. You will earn Tickets by answering questions correctly. (Tickets are used to upgrade/decorate your Home-Base.)
- The gamified learning sections (three to each lesson) are each designed to be completed in 10 to 15 minutes and each in one sitting. If you get interrupted in the middle of the section, next time you return you will start at the beginning of that section.
- You earn Gold Coins and Diamonds in each lesson section (used in the Finding Home! game.)
- Family Activities within the lesson ask the family members to fill in information related to an activity the family will do. For example, it might be kids listing ideas for their “My Time” play sessions with parents, or all family members listing rules they think are important for the family. Then, during the Family Meeting activity, the responses entered by individuals are combined to be reviewed together. Family Activities earn more tickets for upgrading your Home Base.
- Each Family Activity is also available to individual family members in the Family Activities section of the system (from your Home Base, select the open book under the Family banner.) There are many activities that require the adults or kids to track their activities. Tracking is required, as most skills require practice to become wired into the brain as a good habit!
It is an evidence-based parenting program designed to help parents and kids develop happier family relationships, improve mental health outcomes, and help decrease youth alcohol and drug use, violence, and delinquent behavior.
The Strengthening Families Program (SFP) was originally developed in 1982 by Dr. Karol Kumpfer, Ph.D., and associates, with funding from the National Institute of Drug Abuse. It was later adapted to a newer version, made more available to individual families in the video series, in the Strengthening Families Foundation – a 10-14 week program, available online, consisting of videos and worksheets.
SFP Finding Home is a new, gamified version of this program! This gamified program allows families to practice skills individually and then come together in weekly family meetings to work together and further these skills.
SFP skills are for all families; they are not special skills for deficient families. (In SFP, a “family” is defined as one or more adults responsible for one or more children; a “parent” is an adult with that responsibility.)
It has been proven effective by families in all 50 states and 38 foreign countries. The following results were found in randomized control trials:
PARENTS REPORTED
- Increased family unity
- Increased positive communication
- Increased positive parenting skills
- Improved family management and organization
- Improved parent/child relationship
- Decreased family conflict
CHILDREN EXPERIENCED
- Increased social skills, cooperation and pro-social friends
- Improved school performance
- Reduced misconduct and aggression
- Reduced depression and anxiety
- Dramatically reduced tobacco, alcohol and drug abuse use
How to play the Finding Home game:
How do I get something in the mailbox/lending library?
When a family member sends you a Love Note, you will get an extra-special heart to help your characters get a little extra stamina!
Don’t forget to send your family Love Notes, too, so they can get extra health and feel loved!
Are there any other monsters besides the ANTs?
Yes!
Keep playing, and learning, to reveal more surprises! You’ll unlock new monsters, be able to upgrade cards and increase stamina, as well as lots of other awesome stuff!
When you click on the monsters on the other side of the bridge, you will start your battle. Use your characters decks of cards to defeat monsters by dragging the cards onto them! As you drag cards over, you will see a yellow target on the monsters you can use it on!
You’ll notice that there are both a Swordsperson and an Archer. They each take turns to battle the monsters as a team. They can also benefit each-other by dragging Healing Cards or Defend Cards, onto each-other!
You’ll see a fraction at the bottom that shows the number of battles won vs number of battles in total. Don’t worry, if you are defeated, you will be returned to the Home Base (the tent) to automatically heal/regroup!
Build upgrades through your Learn & Earn and during battle to make your characters stronger! Click on the anvil to see all possible upgrades and see which you still need to earn!
Get your weekly Mindfulness Card upgrade from the treasure chest! You earn this card when you complete a full Learn & Earn lesson, along with the key to the next land!
In the SFP Finding Home game, Mindfulness cards help you gain more power against monsters!
In real life, Mindfulness is like your tool-bag of new brain-skills. Mastering each new skill Mindfulness opens to you is like having a treasure box of power!
Here are some of the mental jewels Mindfulness gives you:
- It empowers you to squash discouragement and harmful ANTs
- It gives you to power to better focus and pay attention
- It gives you power to reduce your body’s stress & anger responses
- It gives you the ability to notice and find more joy in natural things
- It enables you to appreciate and find delight in the wonderful brain you have, and the extraordinary body you live in!
What is the end goal of the SFP Finding Home game?
Finding Home! Defeat all ten monsters (who represent ten things you battle in real life) to get the final key to home!
As you defeat monsters on each level, you earn upgrade icons that help you strengthen your characters, build more stamina, cards to increase your abilities, and more! After your final battle, you can earn your key to home!
You need to go back to the tent, to earn the key to unlock the portals! Each time you complete a Learn & Earn full lesson, you earn a new level key!
You also earn Diamonds, Coins, tickets and other cool rewards to help you play the game and upgrade your Home Base!
Do the monsters in the game have anything to do with the lessons?
Yes!
Everything in the game has a link to the Learn & Earn. We wanted it to be meaningful, and also fun! Not everything is a direct tie to the lessons, but the game was absolutely built with the skills, hazards and other material from the lessons in-mind.
Technical Issues:
What is the best Browser to use?
Generally, we recommend Opera. We do not recommend Internet Explorer. Note: You will need to enable Javascript.
You can Download Opera for free here: https://www.opera.com/browsers
Computer, Laptop or Tablet/Book:
On your Apple computer/laptop: Safari or Firefox
On your PC computer/laptop: Firefox or Chrome
On your Chromebook: Opera
Phone:
On your iPhone: Opera
On your Samsung, Google Pixel or other Android phone: Opera
Will this work on my Google Chrome?
Yes! This program has been tested to work optimally on your Chrome device, including those from many school districts.
How do I reset my email, name or password?
To reset your email or name, you must first be logged in. Click on the Profile icon on any page:
Once logged in, you can reset your email, password, and other settings (like your nickname) through the user profile page:
Make sure to click “Update” to save changes!
About Strengthening Families Program:
Why should I trust the outcomes of SFP?
A National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) research grant, (1982–1986), consisting of 12 randomized control trials, four with independent research teams with up to 10-year follow-up studies, found SFP works to positively change behavior and outcomes. SFP is listed as an evidence-based program (EBP) by
- NIDA Red Book (one of 10 programs)
- OJJDP Strengthening America’s Families (one of seven replicated programs)
- SAMHSA Model Programs (2000)
- Cochrane Collaboration—Oxford Univ. as best substance abuse PREVENTION program in the world (Foxcroft, et al., 2003)
- DoED (one of eight programs)
- CSAP Model Program
- World Health Org. EBP 2006
How does it help my family?
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Who created the material for the lessons?
The original evidence-based SFP 14-session program was developed by Dr. Karol L. Kumpfer in 1982 on a National Institute of Drug Abuse grant for substance-abusing parents with children ages 6 to 11 years (SFP6-11). The purpose of the grant was to discover what skills parents needed to keep their kids from using alcohol and drugs.
SFP has since been replicated by multiple agencies in the USA and Europe for the past 30 years with outstanding results. SFP is now taught in all 50 U.S. states and 36 other countries.
In 2001, classes for families with younger children (SFP Birth-3 and SFP3-5) were developed as well as classes for teens (SFP12-16). (Dr. Kumpfer also helped create a 7-session SFP 10-14 version for low-risk Iowa families.)
Randomized control trials (RCTs) have found positive results with families in many different ethnic groups.
The SFP family relationship skills are useful for all families – not just those at risk.
SFP Home -Use Video Series
To make SFP skills available to every family, Dr. Karol Kumpfer and Jaynie Brown created a new low-cost SFP Home-Use Courses for families with children from ages 7-17 years. The SFP video lessons are for parents and youth to watch together and practice the SFP skills at home. Strengthening Families non-profit Foundation,
The videos teach the same research-proven skills as the original SFP classes, with added material on anger management, the harmful impact of alcohol and drugs on the developing teen brain, and Mindfulness.
The series has ten 30-minute SFP lessons, plus an Intro lesson on how the brain develops and encodes new skills through practice, and how to keep it healthy and powerful.
SFP 7-17 Handouts can be printed from the DVD itself or from this website free of charge.
Strengthening Families Program Finding Home Game
This gamified version is now being made available to all families, and we expect the same results as the original, and revised versions as described above. We hope it’s a more fun, engaging and equally helpful way to learn these important skills!