In 2000 when Ken Warner and his colleagues at the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department, Children’s Behavioral Health Bureau (CBHB) attended a presentation on Multisystemic Therapy (MST) in Albuquerque, he had no idea he would go on to champion the evidence-based program statewide.
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Dr. Dan Edwards, president of Evidence-Based Associates (EBA), says he remembers being a lifelong fan of two things: the Red Sox and Multisystemic Therapy (MST). His graduate school seminar on family therapy at the University of Florida was taught by Jim Rodrigue, a protégé of Scott Henggeler, the developer of MST. The required textbook for the course was “Family Therapy and Beyond” (the original book on MST), and so Dr. Edwards just assumed that MST was family therapy when he started out. He knew at that point, he wanted to be involved with MST somehow.
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How does a large organization that provides residential treatment to children and teens change direction to decrease residential care by using evidence-based practices (EBPs)? Not only will Jeremy Kohomban answer that question, but at the MST pre-conference kicking off this April’s Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development Conference in Denver, he will also relate how his organization accomplished this, becoming a key player in national change.
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You can have a truly great program, one that brings families back together, put kids on the straight and narrow so they achieve their dreams and lead a productive life instead of landing in jail. But how good is the program if it doesn’t get beyond the implementation phase because seed money runs out?
Sustainability is crucial to an evidence-based practice (EBP). If it doesn’t last, how much good can it do? An examination by the Justice Research and Statistics Association (JRSA) found successful sustainability starts with a solid and complete implementation stage. “A program’s likelihood of sustainment can be significantly enhanced through several aspects of implementation: maintaining fidelity to core program components, articulating clear goals and developing a plan to achieve them, and demonstrating program success with measureable results and program evaluation.” Multisystemic Therapy (MST), for one, is super-diligent about maintaining fidelity to its Nine Principles to ensure program success and viability. And that’s one reason it has been around for two decades.
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Being an MST supervisor can be very isolating. Often, we work in silos with our own team(s) in agencies that only have one MST program, and we feel like we are the only one going through these unique challenges. Attending the autumn 2015 Advanced Supervisors Workshop in New York reminded me that there is a whole community of supervisors out there ready to encourage and support me in my growth.
This workshop will be offered again this spring, March 17 and 18, in Charleston, S.C. I encourage any supervisor who is thinking about going to go. You won’t regret it. I sure didn’t.
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Nell Bernstein, activist, journalist and author, is scheduled to speak at the MST’s pre-conference, which will kick off this April’s Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development Conference in Denver. We initially spoke with her back in October 2014, a few months after the publication of her second book, Burning Down the House: The End of Juvenile Prison. It is a compelling argument for the wholesale takedown of the juvenile-prison system. As part of the run-up to the conference, we wanted to sit down with her again, look back on the last year or so and talk about what the future may bring.
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Kids are pulled every which way, even those from stable, supportive families. They don’t know who they are, what they want to be, how they should act. If you throw into that mix parents who are struggling to parent, friends who are negative influences, schools not able or too overwhelmed to cope with “problem” students, you have a child who might need help getting out or staying out of the juvenile-justice system.
Sixteen-year-old James is a case in point. Here was a kid on probation for numerous arrests ranging from theft, substance abuse and being aggressive. He came home whenever he chose. What’s more, the boy hung out with other teens who got in trouble with the law.
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Even the best social program is nothing if it doesn’t have clients. Creating a steady stream of referrals can be a major challenge for an evidence-based program, but it is possible with thoughtful planning. The best strategy for overcoming a lack of referrals is developing strong, personal relationships with referral sources.
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It’s just human nature. You did things one way, are accustomed to that way, and you drift back into that comfort zone without even realizing it. Without continual focus and attention it’s difficult to stick to new habits and skills. In the case of Multisystemic Therapy (MST), staying true to the treatment model is of utmost importance if the best results are to be achieved. 
Back row left to right: Alexandra Westcott, Magnus Irvine, Kerry Jayne Lambert, Rose Amado-Taylor, Shelley Stel Front row left to right: Anna Davies, Georgina Privett, Gordon Wilson, Thomas Burke
Topics: MST Community
