MST is a pragmatic and goal-oriented treatment that specifically targets those factors in each young person's social ecology that are contributing to his or her anti-social behaviour. Thus, MST interventions typically aim to improve caregiver discipline practices, enhance family affective relations, decrease young persons association with deviant peers, increase his/her association with pro-social peers, improve school or vocational performance, engage the young person in pro-social recreational outlets, and develop an indigenous support network of extended family, neighbours and friends to help caregivers achieve and maintain such changes.
Referral criteria:
Young people who are returning to the community after a custodial sentence or a period of time in residential care
Exclusion Criteria:
- Young person living independently or with no primary caregiver identified.
- Young person primarily referred due to concerns related to suicidal, homicidal or psychotic behaviours.
- Juvenile sex offenders (sex offending in the absence of other delinquent behaviour).
- Young people with Severe Learning Disability (SLD)Young people with Severe Learning Disability (SLD)
Objectives:
- Improve parental discipline practices.
- Increase family affect.
- Decrease association with deviant peers.
- Increase association with pro-social peers.
- Improve school / vocational performance.
- Engage in positive recreational activities.
- Decrease anti-social behaviours.
- Improve relations between family and community.
- Empower family to solve future challenges.
Programme content:
Specific treatment techniques used to facilitate these gains are integrated from those therapies that have the most empirical support, including cognitive behavioral, behavioral, and the pragmatic family therapies. .MST services are delivered in the natural environment (e.g., home, school, community). The treatment plan is designed in collaboration with family members and is, therefore, family-driven rather than therapist-driven.This service offers individually tailored wraparound services to the young people, high levels of support to the foster carers and, where appropriate, family support and therapeutic input for biological families.
The ultimate goal of MST is to empower families to build an environment, through the mobilisation of indigenous child, family, and community resources that promotes supports and sustains positive behaviour change. The typical duration of home-based MST services is approximately 3-5 months, with multiple therapist-family contacts occurring each week. The MST caseload is a maximum of six families for each of the three members of the team (i.e. a maximum of MST caseload of 18 families).
Working Hours:
Therapists work on a flexible basis meeting families and other systemic supports whenever and wherever it is convenient for them. This includes evening and weekend work.
Support is available to families 24/7, with a Therapist providing on-call cover outside normal office hours.
Staffing Ratio:
Each Therapist manages between 4 - 6 cases.