Multisystemic Therapy (MST) is an intensive family-and community-based treatment program that focuses on the entire world of chronic and violent juvenile offenders — their homes and families, schools and teachers, neighborhoods and friends.
MST works with the toughest offenders. They are adolescents, male and female, between the ages of 12 and 17 who have very long arrest histories.
December 2011
Awards for Excellence at Leeds City Council in the UK
Local events have taken place in Leeds over the last few months and the MST team won achievement of the year in Children and Young Peoples Social Care. The winners from each directorate were in competition for the title of overall Leeds City Council winner for 2011. They went on to win the overall Team Achievement category within Leeds City Council Awards for Excellence and were awarded a 'Golden Owl'. For more on the winners and quotes of the nominations, click here.
November 2011
Ultra Long-Term Study Demonstrates Lasting Effects of MST
MST continues to have positive effects on former participants more than 20 years after treatment. Charles Borduin of the University of Missouri followed up with clinical trial participants that completed treatment nearly 22 years earlier, on average. He found the following differences between participants who received MST and those who received individualized therapy:
MST continues to have positive effects on former participants more than 20 years after treatment. Charles Borduin of the University of Missouri followed up with clinical trial participants that completed treatment nearly 22 years earlier, on average. He found the following differences between participants who received MST and those who received individualized therapy:
- Violent felonies: Since completing treatment, 4.3 percent of juveniles treated with MST were arrested for a violent felony, compared to 15.5 percent of individual therapy participants.
- All felonies: Overall, 34.8 percent of MST participants committed a felony, compared to 54.8 percent of individual therapy participants.
- Misdemeanors: MST participants committed five times fewer misdemeanors than individual therapy participants.
- Family problems: Individual therapy participants were involved in family-related civil suits two times more often than MST participants.
October 2011
The Annie E. Casey Foundation's new report, No Place for Kids: The Case for Reducing Juvenile Incarceration assembles a vast array of evidence to demonstrate that incarcerating kids doesn't work. Youth prisons do not reduce future offending, they waste taxpayer dollars, and they frequently expose youth to dangerous and abusive conditions. The report highlights MST as an effective model for delinquent youth (see pgs 17-21).
