Runaway behavior is too often dismissed as willful defiance. In reality, each runaway episode is more like a warning light. It's a symptom of deeper trauma, unmet needs, and systemic cracks that have gone unaddressed. 

Multisystemic Therapy (MST) is an evidence-based, culturally sensitive therapy model that helps young people with behavioral challenges by engaging their families and communities. Developed to address complex issues like delinquency, substance use, and school truancy, MST takes a holistic view of a young person's environment. 

For decades, the child welfare system has relied on traditional (often manual) processes to protect vulnerable children and support struggling families. The system operated with significant limitations, which made timely interventions challenging. While dedicated professionals worked tirelessly to navigate these limitations, inefficiencies and inconsistencies often led to gaps in care. 

Raising a child with serious behavioral challenges can feel overwhelming, but Multisystemic Therapy (MST) can help. Unlike many interventions that focus solely on the child, MST programs take a community-based, evidence-driven approach that treats the family as a whole system.

Intellectual disability, often referred to as intellectual developmental disorder (IDD), encompasses a range of cognitive impairments affecting an individual's adaptive functioning and intellectual abilities. It's crucial to understand that intellectual disabilities aren't merely a singular characteristic but a diverse spectrum of challenges that can profoundly impact an individual's life. 

The cornerstone of a child’s well-being, growth, and development is often rooted in their caregivers' mental and emotional health. Parental figures influence how children process information, behave, and interact with the world around them.   

However, parents are human — and many parents struggle with maintaining their mental stability. Any parent can grapple with anxiety symptoms, attachment issues, and executive dysfunction, all of which can affect their parenting.  

In these situations, Multisystemic Therapy (MST) can be a key source of help. Recognizing the profound connection between parental well-being and children's mental health, MST focuses on holistic therapeutic interventions for at-risk youth. MST treatment looks at the whole family, including the parents, who may need extra support both as a parent and as a human being.   

Because children spend much of their time at school, schools can be the perfect setting for promoting mental health awareness. Schools can help students learn about mental health and access helpful resources. But in order to take full advantage of this opportunity, we must first break the stigma attached to mental illness. 

Therapy can be a positive tool for change in a person’s life. However, the relationship between a therapist and their client significantly impacts the effectiveness of the treatment.  Unfortunately, many barriers can threaten the therapist-client relationship, including communication breakdowns, power imbalances, and conflicting goals.  

Addressing these struggles early can prevent them from escalating and affecting treatment outcomes. In addition, when therapists approach these struggles with intentionality and self-awareness, it can ultimately improve the relationship and help the client reach their therapy goals. 

How you view yourself, your qualities, and your capabilities — in other words, your self-esteem — plays a major role in your mental health. This is true for people of all ages, including teenagers. A healthy level of self-esteem can set a teenager up for success as it can empower them to set boundaries, bounce back from challenges, and make positive choices.   

Unfortunately, many teenagers struggle with low self-esteem. Adolescence can be challenging, and hormonal shifts, physical changes, and social challenges, coupled with new responsibilities and peer pressure, can affect a teenager's self-perception.  

May is National Teen Self-Esteem Month, which offers us the opportunity to reflect on the connection between self-esteem and mental health, as well as how to build self-esteem in teenagers.

The outcome of any form of counseling depends on how well the therapist is able to engage the client and their caregivers in sessions.  The same can be said for family therapy interventions. If the therapist isn’t able to engage family members, it can impact how well interventions will be implemented that positively affect the entire family.  

When it comes to family-based counseling, therapists measure client engagement in the following ways: 

• Attending the sessions regularly

• Sharing openly during the sessions

• Being willing to discuss difficult topics 

• Participating in exercises and activities during the session 

• Completing therapy homework between sessions 

• Attempting to integrate insights into their day-to-day life 

When a therapist is able to engage clients, they are likely to achieve better outcomes more quickly, not only for the client but the entire family.  

Multisystemic Therapy (MST) works to address known barriers to client and caregiver engagement and utilize the strategies below, though this is not an exhaustive list.