With the right amount of supports, family thrives
It’s said it takes a village to raise a child. In the case of Chelsea, it also took a “Dream Team.”
As we started working with 14-year-old Chelsea and her family, we knew mom had a lot on her plate. Her oldest son had been acting out and was involved with MST. Now, she was having problems with her daughter, Chelsea. We learned early in treatment the girl was running away, hanging out with men as old as 21, being argumentative daily and recently was physically aggressive. She was not only struggling at home, Chelsea had five school suspensions that eventually led to her expulsion. Her only educational option was to attend virtual school, an off-site school provision. Initially, because her behavior was so disruptive, she couldn’t stay there. She had to work at home.
As her MST therapist, I knew that it was going to be a lot of hard work for mom, who already had a lot to handle. This wasn’t going to be easy, but I could see with the right support, mom was up for the challenge. I also knew I was going to use the support of my MST teamto help this family succeed.
She worked really hard with us from the start
We started by prioritizing developing a home-school link. With positive communication between home and school, mom ensured Chelsea received and completed her school assignments. We identified a huge strength—Chelsea loved electronic devices. (I know. What 14 year-old girl doesn’t?) The trick for this mom was to monitor Chelsea’s use of her devices (to be sure she was safe) and to use them as incentives and rewards for positive behaviors.
I learned that mom was great at this. Before we knew it, Chelsea was completing her schoolwork ahead of schedule, resulting in her being able to return to the virtual school on site early.
Building on strengths and successes
Once we had this momentum, mom was able to build on her successes. Early in treatment, mom recognized she had to increase monitoring Chelsea’s peers and find some positive outlets. As part of her probationary guidelines, Chelsea also needed to complete community-service hours. Again mom was great. She enlisted her supports. She knew if Chelsea was kept busy working with her grandmother at her job, she would be doing a pro-social activity, and she would be completing those community-service hours. Her daughter ended up enjoying her work so much, she continued working with her grandma.
With the support of their family, Chelsea and her mom had an improved relationship, Chelsea was attending school, staying home and associating with appropriate friends with mom’s approval.
In the end, my team and I got the biggest surprise
One of the key aspects of MST is you work in a team. Every week, you come together with two or three other MST therapists and your supervisor for group supervision. When you are away on vacation or out, other therapists are able to cover for you because they know the family’s needs. If you are not on call and one of the other therapists is, the family knows someone will answer that call and help out.
For this family, my teammates were especially helpful. When mom contacted our on-call early on, we were there for her. When I was out, they were there for her. She knew we had her best interest at heart. She knew my supervisor, Nancy Tapper, was making sure we all worked together for the good of her family.
We were also working with our MST expert, Dr. Richard Munschy. Mom was aware that Richard was sharing his great ideas with us, making sure she and Chelsea were getting the treatment they needed.
It’s said that gratitude is a form of flattery, and this mom showed me and my team just how much she appreciated the work we did. I am sure I will never forgot how proud she made me feel of her, Chelsea, her family and of my “Dream Team.”
At the last meeting, the family had four generations there to go over the maintenance plans and to celebrate the achievements they had as a family. Mom wanted pictures and even video-recorded it.
In the end, I am not sure who is more proud—me or mom, or maybe both. Together with the family, we are the “Dream Team!”
Tonya Back is an MST therapist at Summit Pointe.
To learn how MST has a positive impact on all members of a family, download this white paper.
