Public-figure suicide is alarming not just because of the loss of a human life. It engenders more suicide as it highlights a way out for teens that feel hopeless. Suicide rates increased 10% after the heartbreaking loss of Robin Williams, and I suspect that this trend will continue with the more recent passing of Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade.

Suicide is one of the top three causes of death among teenagers in our community. Perhaps the most tragic aspect of this is that the pattern of suicide is preventable. Communities would benefit from a holistic approach to suicide prevention that is grounded in research science. Below are three actionable ways to prevent teen suicide in your community.

Joining Forces to Tackle Delinquency 

There are troubled youth everywhere. Big cities. Little towns. Halmstad, Sweden.

Halmstad is a port city on the country’s west coast with a population of more than 90,000. And as is the case in so many places worldwide, there is a drug problem among adolescents. How is the city dealing with it? One way is through collaboration between police Officer Thomas Turesson and the Halmstad Multisystemic Therapy (MST) team.

How MST Came to North Carolina

In 2009, North Carolina’s juvenile justice system needed a new answer. The state had been experiencing high rates of juvenile incarceration, which started to cause significant budgetary stress on the system. Soon, budget cuts were necessary and the state began to close group homes for delinquent youth. 

A Bad Situation Becomes Dangerous When Domestic Violence Comes to Light

I was working as a therapist with the Hernandez* family for two months before I started to suspect that there was something else going on. The case originally came in because Manny, a 17-year-old living in the Bronx, was doing drugs, cutting class, violating curfew, and stealing. The family needed Multisystemic Therapy treatment to help navigate these issues and get Manny back on the right path. Little did I know I would soon be treating additional issues—issues beyond Manny’s control.

How MST Came to Ohio

In the mid-1990s, the Ohio Department of Youth Services (ODYS) underwent research that revealed significant barriers to meeting the mental health needs of the incarcerated youth in their care. Motivated to address this, the department began looking for alternative treatments for delinquent youth – a search that quickly led to Multisystemic Therapy (MST).

The unique, sensitive toll that has befallen the country urgently begs us to come up with non-traditional ways to address youth violence. Current methods of treatment are clearly not enough—we need to find new ways to prevent school shootings, which starts with addressing the behaviors and risk factors that influence youth violence. 

Photo by K.C. Alfred 

The San Diego Unified School District has been one of the few school districts in the country that provides MST (Multisystemic Therapy) to adolescents and families. Since early 2003, San Diego Unified has successfully served many families through their MST program. However, due to devastating budget cuts, that program is being eliminated this month despite opposition from the community.  

MST is a Global Model

Switzerland, a country currently implementing MST, has one of the highest percentages of foreigners in its population with the majority of them being from Europe. In addition, Switzerland has 26 counties that work very independently from each other, from political ideas to economics structures. Given geographic and cultural differences, just how effective is a model like Multisystemic Therapy, when implemented internationally? 

Communities are looking for answers to stop school shootings: 
MST's mental health treatment can play a vital role

Wednesday, February 14^th, 2018 was like any other Wednesday for me. I was wrapping up my meetings for the day until I received an urgent text from my husband, asking if I had seen the news about Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL—our oldest nephew’s school. He told me that our nephew, Blake, was okay and his dad was on his way to get him. I was thankful for that moment, but then the news began to come in about the other victims of this senseless act of violence. We called to check on our family, who is very involved in the Parkland community, and everyone was in shock. Blake spoke with my husband and told him that his football coach had passed away, but said “It’s okay, he died a hero.” His words stunned both of us. The following week, he attended the funerals of his four friends who were killed and his beloved hero, Assistant Coach Aaron Feis.

When watching the maturity and passion of Blake and his peers from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, I have hope for our future. I do also worry. 

To honor Mother's Day, we are sharing a few stories over the next few weeks that honor our amazing MST mothers. Today we are sharing a story of one mom in Louisiana who changed her life to help her son

Jared had two weeks to produce a clean drug screen for drug court, or he was facing six months in detention. Two weeks is not a lot of time, especially when he was smoking many bowls of marijuana and half-a-pack of cigarettes every day. On top of that, he had already missed more than 20 days of school, and it was only November. I knew that his truancy also needed to be addressed, but as his Multisystemic Therapy (MST) therapist, I had to focus first and foremost on helping Jared get clean for his drug screen.

It was a hard two weeks. Mom, who was also using marijuana, was frustrated. Jared was frustrated. Drug court was frustrated. The frustration was all understandable, and during that time, I was the only one with hope. I knew we could do it, but I also knew I needed to be honest with Jared about how high the stakes were. In the end, the choice was theirs: The entire family had to change their behavior and help Jared get clean, or they would be helping him pack his bags for detention.