Our family lives on a picturesque island off the coast of Maine. Yet, painkillers prescribed by physicians resulting in opioid addiction and the ready availability of heroin have damaged the lives of many families in our extended social network – children of our friends, friends of our friends, work colleagues of our friends, families of our children’s friends, and acquaintances in our community.
Topics: Substance Abuse
We acknowledge and pay respect to the Traditional Custodians of the land upon which we work. We also pay respect to Elders past, present and future and recognise the strength, resilience and capacity of Aboriginal people from this land.
Child abuse and neglect is not unique to any one continent, country or city. Across the globe, governments and non-government organisations are working together to support those most vulnerable in our communities to reach the best possible outcomes and lives.
Topics: Child Welfare
First enacted in 1974, the JJDPA provides four core protections for young people who are involved in the juvenile justice system. The legislation ensures that youth are not housed in adult facilities, that they are sight and sound separated from adult inmates, and that states address racial and ethnic disparities within their systems. The law also prohibits the incarceration of young people for status offenses such as running away from home and skipping school. These status-offense behaviors are illegal only because the person engaging in them has not yet reached the age of majority.
Topics: Juvenile Justice Reform
His humility shows first and foremost
Let’s talk about Fuzi Bradshaw—an outstanding Multisystemic Therapy (MST) clinician and father.
When you first meet Fuzi, you are struck by his humility. He talks with humble pride about the work he does with MST families in the Nottingham community of England. He talks with that same pride about his own family and the lives that he is shaping as a father.
Fuzi is a recent recipient of the MST Sustained Excellence award (an ESSY) for his overall adherence to the MST model as determined by the MST Therapist’s Adherence Measure.
Topics: MST Success Stories
Approximately 500 families have completed Multisystemic Therapy (MST) in Iceland since the first team started in November 2008. MST was brought in as a part of a policy change by the Government Agency for Child Protection, which is a provider for speciailised services like Parent Management Training–Oregon Model (PMTO), MST and Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) for sexually abused children (Barnahus—Children‘s House). Since 2010, two MST standard teams have worked in Iceland. MST, like all other social services in the country, is free of charge.
MST brought a significant improvement to the Icelandic Child Protection System (CPS) and made it possible to close many of the residential treatment homes.
Topics: Multisystemic Therapy
When I think of summer, my mind wanders to the feelings and smells of a summer day—the sun’s warmth on my skin, the taste of BBQ and other treats, the smell of freshly cut grass and the sound of the lawn mower zipping through the ever-growing jungle that we call a yard. There is something therapeutic about cutting the grass, but sometimes it is more than just about mowing the lawn, as one of my therapists for a team on my caseload found out during a recent session.
Topics: MST Success Stories, MST Community
Labels. Labels we are given, and ones we take on and allow to define us. For young people who are involved in juvenile justice, and for many who become MST clients, labels can get in the way of success. Maybe they are marked as “bad kids” because they are on probation or parole. Maybe it’s a mental health diagnosis or a learning disability that is allowed to become their label. Some kids are remembered for a crime they committed or by the reputation their families have in the community. Thankfully, we don’t live in the 17th century and have to literally wear a scarlet letter stitched across our clothing. Being put into a category can still be incredibly damaging and difficult to overcome. In particular, when we internalize it.
Topics: Troubled Youth
Close your eyes, and picture a homeless person. What images do you see? Do you see someone begging along the highway? Or perhaps someone just sitting around “refusing to help themselves”? So often, we have a narrow view of those who find themselves on the street, when in fact, homelessness can strike at any time, and therapists have to be armed with strategies to help. Our team learned this valuable lesson just recently when working with Ben and his family.
Topics: MST Success Stories
Two years ago, CSI's (Community Solutions Inc.) New Jersey Multisystemic Therapy (MST) teams were struggling. Retaining staff and achieving positive outcomes for families was proving to be very difficult. Everyone was invested—they were just unsure if MST could work in their neighborhoods. The communities were experiencing high levels of violence, and families were increasingly losing hope. The program manager of the New Jersey teams wasn’t sure if MST alone was a viable treatment option given everything that was happening in the area. The program leadership wondered whether therapists would be safe when they went to see families. Could they successfully engage people who had strong distrust of professionals? Could they help families rearrange their ecologies so that young people did not get rearrested during the course of MST? Could they work to get young people back to school?
Michelle Robinson receiving her WIT award at the 2017 International Conference pictured alongside Scott Henggeler
Topics: Troubled Youth
It’s often said that if a young person ends up in prison, it’s a sign that the “system” failed somewhere along the way. Early warning signs were missed, help was not available or it came too late. Often, good people and good programs were simply not available due to lack of funds.
Is there really a lack of funds, or are available funds just being spent the wrong way?
Topics: Juvenile Justice Reform
