Multisystemic Therapy - Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust

Contacts:
Dr Melissa Aitken Dr Lesley French
Principal Clinical Psychologist Consultant Clinical Psychologist
and MST Team Supervisor Head of Child Psychology and
Clinical Lead for MST
Specialist Mental Health Services
St Nicholas Centre
79b Tewson Road
London SE18 1BB
Tel: 020 8331 4170
Multisystemic Therapy
Whatever it takes…
Information for parents and carers
Greenwich Children’s Services
In partnership with
Greenwich Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and
the Bracton Centre, Forensic Mental Health Service
Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust
Pinewood House
Pinewood Place
Dartford
Kent DA2 7WG
www.oxleas.nhs.uk
www.CamhsCares.nhs.uk
July 2011
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What is Multisystemic Therapy?
Multisystemic Therapy (MST) is an intensive family based
treatment aimed at reducing aggressive, antisocial and
offending behaviour in young people. It is based on the
understanding that young people are members of many
systems (groups) which all influence the way they behave.
FAMILY
PEERS
Your opinion matters
We welcome your views on all of the services we provide. If
you would like to comment, make suggestions or make a
complaint, please speak to the person you normally see or
ask to speak to the team manager.
You can also speak to our Patient Advice and Liaison
Service (PALS) by ringing the Free Phone number 0800 917
7159.
COMMUNITY
SCHOOL
MST helps parents and carers to understand how these
systems are affecting their child’s behaviour. It helps and
supports them to make the necessary changes across the
whole network, to make it work for the young people, in a
If you are unable to resolve your concerns or would like to
take the matter further, please contact:
Head of Complaints
Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust
Pinewood House
Pinewood Place
Dartford DA2 7WG
Tel: 01322 625751
email: complaints@oxleas.nhs.uk
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How do we get referred?
You can be referred to the service by any professional
working with your family. For example, a social worker,
teacher or YOT worker. Once they contact us, we will come
and meet you to discuss whether MST is the right service for
you and answer any questions you may have.
Confidentiality
All of our staff is required to adhere to a strict code of
conduct on confidentiality. There are times, however, when
we may share some information with other professionals
who do not work for Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust. These
might be your GP and/or social services employees. When
considering who may see information about the young
person, our staff abides by the following principles:
To only share information with those who need to know in
order to provide good quality care
Share the minimum information necessary to ensure
good quality care.
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way that increases positive behaviour and reduces negative
behaviour. By approaching the systems from different angles
at the same time, MST can be effective in changing
behaviours that families may have been battling with for a
long time.
Who is it for?
Young people of secondary school age (11-18 years) whose
behaviour is seriously aggressive or antisocial, and where
this may be placing them at risk of family breakdown, or
custody. Young people must usually be resident in the
London Borough of Greenwich and must live with a family
member or long-term carer.
What is involved?
Firstly, a therapist will meet with parents, carers and the
young person to hear about the behaviours that cause the
most worry. Together with the therapist, the family will set
some goals that the young person, themselves, would like to
achieve. The therapist will then help the family come up with
ideas on how they might manage to achieve these goals,
and the therapist will help them develop skills and
confidence to put these ideas into practice.
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Goals often include things like…
Helping parents and carers feel they have more
control over behaviour
Improving the way that people communicate in the
family
Helping young people identify and ‘hang out’ with
positive peers
Encouraging young people to do positive activities
Getting young people to go to school regularly
Developing a support network around the family
We understand that some behaviour is really challenging
and real problems often arise that mean making changes is
very hard. This puts a lot of pressure on parents and carers.
Because of this, the therapist will visit the family home two or
more times a week to support the young person, parents and
carers, and will also telephone the parent or carer frequently.
Visits will be arranged at times to suit their day-to-day routine.
We also offer an out-of-hours telephone helpline, which
means there is 24-hour access to advice and support.
Therapists will also help parents and carers talk and
communicate in other ways with systems such as school and
social services. Therapists use different ways to help families
achieve their goals. These include family or couples therapy
(all talking together with the therapist), individual therapy (on
your own with the therapist), behavioural management
(where you can learn ways to cope with behaviour), as well
as liaison with other services. The important thing to
remember is that we are willing to try whatever it may take to
help you make any changes needed to help your child. We
will help arrange an assessment for the carer or relative’s
needs to help them in their role.
How long does it take?
MST lasts for three to six months depending on how things
are going. Once positive changes are made, the aim is to
give families enough confidence to be able to keep things
going on their own.
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