Bringing key community stakeholders and MST teams together for a good cause

Anyone who has ever arranged a fundraiser or event of more than four people knows there is a lot of planning and work involved. Probably more than what you might expect. So MST Northamptonshire was discovered.

In early 2015, it was decided that the two MST Northamptonshire teams would host the MST Midlands Network Event. Meetings across the U.K. Network Partnership bring together key stakeholders and MST programs to enhance community collaboration. Thus began the process of organizing venues, speakers, and presentations.

“Long term outcomes—Achieving the holy grail” soon became our theme.

MST mends family, paving road to duccess

“It’s not going to work. Nothing has worked in the past.”

All too familiar words heard when an MST therapist takes on a case. Father Matthew and stepmother Linda had their doubts when their 17-year-old son, Michael, was referred to the MST program at Adelphoi Village. Michael was aggressive at home and struggled with academics and school attendance. The family tried a series of formal support programs over the years. Nothing worked. The boy’s parents were sure he wouldn’t change and that he would probably “fire” the MST therapist just as he had so many others before.

Evidence-based interventions in Pennsylvania yield reductions in placement rates

The state of Pennsylvania has a long history of doing right by its high-risk youth. It followed the example set by Illinois in 1899 of not looking on children and adolescents as being solely responsible for their behavior. Courts would not merely mete out punishment. They would look for ways to rehabilitate the defendants.

One hundred years later, alongside a number of initiatives to improve its juvenile justice system, Pennsylvania leaders began encouraging the adoption of evidence-based interventions (EBIs) such as Multisystemic Therapy (MST) and Functional Family Therapy (FFT) as a way to help troubled youth, keep them at home and out of prison.

Based on evaluations and outcome reports by the EPISCenter, EBIs are accomplishing just that.

“The beginning is the most important part of the work.” —Plato

The treatment had a bumpy start. The dad was verbally abusive toward me, to put it mildly, from the moment I walked in. Practically the first words out of his mouth were “F’ off! You can keep your f-ing treatment,” adding that the “F-ing boy is never coming to my house ever again!”

This anger isn’t uncommon. Juvenile offenders we see in Multisystemic Therapy have pushed their parents, caregivers, and families to the brink. Many of our families are beaten down trying to deal with their beyond-control children and have lost all hope. After trying what seems like everything, they wonder why to bother anymore. Often, they just want the pain and frustration to stop.

Lobbying continues for passage of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act

The message is clear. More than 1,100 law-enforcement officials from police chiefs to prosecutors are pushing to keep juvenile offenders out of lockups and into family interventions with proven track records of helping troubled youths. One program they cite is Multisystemic Therapy, MST.

The officials were represented yesterday in front of Congress by Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, which is lobbying to get the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) reauthorized. A Fight Crime report, “Never is Better, But Once is Enough,” calls the JJDPA a juvenile-justice "game-changer.” The report provides evidence that repeats offending could be reduced by 50 percent, with a saving of $9,000 and $27,000 per youth. Compare that to the average $88,000 a year for keeping a delinquent locked up.

What stops high-risk juveniles from further crime?

A report from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention based on the “Pathways to Desistance” project offered up a serious look at what deters high-risk kids from committing future crimes.

More than 1,300 delinquents from Philadelphia and Phoenix were interviewed seven years after they were convicted. They were asked about the factors—becoming more mature, life changes, and whether they were involved again with the criminal-justice system—that led youth who have committed serious offenses to continue or stop offending.

Quick-thinking MST therapist diffuses domestic-violence situation

Multisystemic Therapy (MST) sessions are held in the client’s home. It makes sense since that’s often where a youth acts out.  The therapy focuses on addressing all parts of young person’s life that contribute to chronic and violent behavior—the home and family, schools and teachers, neighborhoods, and friends. MST recognizes that each aspect plays a critical role in a youth's world and each system requires attention when effective change is needed to improve the quality of life for youth and their families.

I visited the home once and reviewed my notes from the initial session before taking the short drive to my new client’s home. A truancy officer, citing low school attendance, had referred the youth to MST. The plan was to meet with Mom to begin assessing the strengths and needs of the child’s ecology. Then, I could tailor the treatment approach to best capitalize on their strong points.

10-year MST veteran shares thoughts on what makes the evidence-based model work

Marta Lear has been a Multisystemic Therapy (MST) supervisor for 10 years. In that time, she witnessed up close the elements that contribute to MST being such a powerful tool in helping chronic juvenile offenders get on the right track to becoming successful, productive adults.

One extremely important factor Lear found was the high level of support and guidance provided to therapists and supervisors by MST, which included the quality of booster trainings. In other programs, she says, therapists may get adequate training and even follow-up booster sessions. However, they often lack a focus on the sustainability of the program, as well as fidelity to the model. MST requires both.

MST: Backed Up by Research, Results Proven to Be Reproducible

An article in Science magazine stated that less than a third of psychology studies could be replicated. 

This finding produced a bit of negative coverage in the media, as well as some useful analysis.     

For me, however, it was a reminder of just how impressive the body of research behind MST is. Consider that since 1986, MST has undergone 15 separate randomized controlled trials using either juvenile offenders or youth with serious conduct problems. Of those, seven were conducted by independent researchers in five separate countries.

New Mexico finds MST cost-effective, saves the state $135 million

In December 2014, a report was published showing very positive results for troubled youth receiving Multisystemic Therapy (MST) treatment over a nine-year period in New Mexico. The state decided to take a closer look at the data from its Juvenile Justice Services System (JJS) focusing on whether using MST for delinquent youths at risk of out-of-home placements was paying off.

The study analyzed information gathered on 4,016 delinquent young people receiving MST from July 2005 to June 30, 2014, covering admission to six and 12 months after discharge. These were youths with very high rates of severity at admission to MST and showed great improvement in all areas examined, including improved functioning, decreased mental health and substance-abuse problems, and cost savings to the state through reductions in using Medicaid-funded behavioral health services.