Multisystemic Therapy
Program Overview:
Multisystemic Therapy (MST) is an intensive family- and community-based treatment that addresses the multiple determinants of serious antisocial behavior in juvenile offenders. The multisystemic approach views individuals as being nested within a complex network of interconnected systems that encompass individual, family, and
extrafamilial (peer, school, neighborhood) factors. Intervention may be necessary in any one or a combination of these systems.
Program Targets:
MST targets chronic, violent, or substance abusing juvenile offenders at high risk of out-of-home placement and their families.
Program Content:
MST addresses the multiple factors known to be related to delinquency across the key settings, or systems, within which youth are embedded.. MST strives to promote behavior change in the youth’s natural environment, using the strengths of each system (e.g., family, peers, school, neighborhood, indigenous support network) to facilitate change.
The major goal of MST is to empower parents with the skills and resources needed to independently address the difficulties that arise in raising teenagers and to empower youth to cope with family, peer, school, and neighborhood problems. Within a context of support and skill building, the therapist places developmentally appropriate demands on the adolescent and family for responsible behavior. Intervention strategies are integrated into a social ecological context and include strategic family therapy, structural family therapy, behavioral parent training, and cognitive behavior therapies.
MST is provided using a home-based model of services delivery. This model helps to overcome barriers to service access, increases family retention in treatment, allows for the provision of intensive services (i.e., therapists have low caseloads), and enhances the maintenance of treatment gains. The usual duration of MST treatment is approximately 4 months.
Program Outcomes:
Evaluations of MST have demonstrated:
• reduced long-term rates of criminal offending in serious juvenile offenders,
• reduced rates of out-of-home placements for serious juvenile offenders,
• extensive improvements in family functioning,
• decreased mental health problems for serious juvenile offenders,
• favorable outcomes at cost savings in comparison with usual mental health and juvenile justice services.
Multisystemic Therapy (MST) is an intensive family- and community-based treatment that addresses the multiple determinants of serious antisocial behavior in juvenile offenders. The multisystemic approach views individuals as being nested within a complex network of interconnected systems that encompass individual, family, and
extrafamilial (peer, school, neighborhood) factors. Intervention may be necessary in any one or a combination of these systems.
Program Targets:
MST targets chronic, violent, or substance abusing juvenile offenders at high risk of out-of-home placement and their families.
Program Content:
MST addresses the multiple factors known to be related to delinquency across the key settings, or systems, within which youth are embedded.. MST strives to promote behavior change in the youth’s natural environment, using the strengths of each system (e.g., family, peers, school, neighborhood, indigenous support network) to facilitate change.
The major goal of MST is to empower parents with the skills and resources needed to independently address the difficulties that arise in raising teenagers and to empower youth to cope with family, peer, school, and neighborhood problems. Within a context of support and skill building, the therapist places developmentally appropriate demands on the adolescent and family for responsible behavior. Intervention strategies are integrated into a social ecological context and include strategic family therapy, structural family therapy, behavioral parent training, and cognitive behavior therapies.
MST is provided using a home-based model of services delivery. This model helps to overcome barriers to service access, increases family retention in treatment, allows for the provision of intensive services (i.e., therapists have low caseloads), and enhances the maintenance of treatment gains. The usual duration of MST treatment is approximately 4 months.
Program Outcomes:
Evaluations of MST have demonstrated:
• reduced long-term rates of criminal offending in serious juvenile offenders,
• reduced rates of out-of-home placements for serious juvenile offenders,
• extensive improvements in family functioning,
• decreased mental health problems for serious juvenile offenders,
• favorable outcomes at cost savings in comparison with usual mental health and juvenile justice services.