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.