A non-randomized control trial was conducted to assess the feasibility and efficacy of the Life Interventions for Family Effectiveness (LIFE) project: a family-based, evidence-based comprehensive substance abuse intervention for at-risk adolescents and their families. The Matrix Adolescent Treatment Model of program delivery was utilized in the LIFE intervention; it is a comprehensive therapeutic approach that includes activities at school, at community locations, and at the students' homes. School activities included computer literacy programs, computer assisted graphic arts, and musical expressive arts. Participants were 58 Latino and African American adolescents attending two alternative Southern California schools as a result of numerous delinquent behaviors. Twenty-eight participants in one school received the LIFE intervention and 30 participants in the other school received the usual social services. Comparisons between and within the two intervention groups on outcome variables were made at the end of the 3-month intervention. (Contains 1 table, 3 figures, and 3 footnotes.)