Welcome

In this issue

• Announcements from MST Services and MST Institute
• News Briefs from Family Services Research Center at MUSC
• New Publications and Resources
• MST Community Updates and Announcements

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Announcements from MST Services and MST Institute

• Network of licensed MST programs reaches 300 teams, worldwide
  
  
• Lisa Reiter-Lavery, PhD has been named vice president of MST Services.
  
  
• Molly Brunk, PhD, has been named vice president of MST Services in addition to director of quality assurance for MST Institute. Molly will work in her role at MST Institute on a part-time basis.

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News Briefs from Family Services Research Center at MUSC

• MST Transportability Study Annual Report now available - view report (pdf)
  
  
• New MST grant award investigating unsuccessful MST cases: "Differential Response to Evidence-Based Treatment", Principal Investigator, Phillippe Cunningham
  
  
• Current MST Network Pilot Projects:
  
  
  • Problem Sexual Behavior (JSO-MST) pilot has started in Connecticut. FSRC is also looking for additional sites for this project.
    
    
  • Child Abuse and Neglect MST (CAN-MST) pilot project started in Connecticut and a second site is set to start in Brisbane, Australia in May or June of this year.
    
    

If you have questions about the network pilot projects, contact: Dan Edwards at dan.edwards@mstservices.com.

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New Publications

The following publications have been recently published. To request a copy, or for more information, click here

262 Rowland, M. R., Halliday-Boykins, C. A., Henggeler, S. W., Cunningham, P. B., Lee, T. G., Kruesi, M. J. P., & Shapiro, S. B. (2005). A randomized trial of multisystemic therapy with Hawaii's Felix Class youths. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 13, 13-23.

261 Schaeffer, C. M., & Borduin, C. M. (in press). Long-term follow-up to a randomized clinical trial of multisystemic therapy with serious and violent juvenile offenders. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.

Ellis, D. A., Frey, M. A., Naar-King, S., Adams, C., Adams, A., Templin, T., Cunningham, P., & Cakan, N. (in press). Use of Multisystemic Therapy to improve regimen adherence among adolescents with Type I diabetes in chronic poor metabolic control: A randomized controlled trial. Diabetes Care.

257 Schoenwald, S.K., & Henggeler, S.W. (2004). A public health perspective on the transport of evidence-based practices. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 11, 360-363.

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MST Community Updates & Announcements

Update from MST New Zealand
Submitted by: Joshua Leblang, Clincal Director, MST New Zealand

Currently, MST New Zealand has six teams throughout New Zealand, with two additional teams scheduled to begin in early May.

In February, MST New Zealand hosted a national Hui (conference) that brought all of our MST teams together. During the conference, we focused on working with diverse cultures and clinician self-care (burn-out prevention).

The leader of the opposition party in New Zealand, Don Brash, commented in his speech on youth justice, that if elected, "We also want to give judges more opportunity to use another corrective option that's also achieved well-documented success overseas. National will expand the provision of "Multisystemic Therapy" (MST) for young offenders in New Zealand. It's a dreadful name but the programme works! MST targets all the systems around a young person at-risk - parents, friends, school, work - in a programme that lasts six months and is rigorously monitored, with progress measured. Results achieved through monitored MST programmes show a 50% reduction in re-offending by young people who've undergone the programme. The therapy costs less than a third of the $35,000 bill taxpayers currently face for providing a three month placement at a Child, Youth and Family justice facility. At the moment, around 200 families have completed or are participating in six MST programmes around New Zealand. National will significantly expand the availability of this option."

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New MST Teams
In the first quarter of 2005, the following teams were added to the MST community:

CMS	Texas	1
Bergen Co	New Jersey	1
HR White Foundation	Florida	1
Henderson MHC	Florida	1
Children's Village	New York	1
Teambuilders	New Mexico	1
Farmington	New Mexico	1
Dept. of Mental Health	Washington, DC	2
Psychological Centers	Rhode Island	1
Mercer County	Pennsylvania	1
Gryning	Sweden	1
Dept. of Juvenile Justice	Western Australia	2
DeViersprong	Netherlands	2

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From After-School to Africa
Many of you have had the pleasure of witnessing a Djole performance. It's a performance that any MST professional can take personal pride in. Djole, a West African dance and drumming company, was created as a result of an MST project five years ago to get children off the street, encourage them toward a more positive path in life, and improve their health status.

This summer, Djole will embark on an ambassadorial trip to West Africa for the purpose of interacting with West African dancers and drummers, cultural exchange, and teaching youth in Africa about AIDS.

To make this journey, they must raise enough money to pay for the trip. NONE of the children in Djole have family money to support this trip. Indeed, their parents are working as hard as they can to put food on their tables. They will fundraise to earn the entire amount needed. This will further instill discipline and a work ethic that is currently being taught to the children.

If you would like to help Djole's journey to Africa, visit their site to make an online donation.