Supporting Children & Families
Multi-Systemic Therapy
Extern provides a range of programmes across the island of Ireland working with children and young people aged between 8 and 18. Our programmes range from early intervention and prevention, diversion through to working with children within the care system.
Extern has been providing Multi-Systemic Services in Northern Ireland since 2001 and remains the only licensed provider of the intervention model on the island of Ireland.
MST is an intensive, family preservation model designed to enable parents and carers to address the challenging behaviours displayed by the children and young people they care for. It is an evidence-based model originating from the United States of America, supported by over 30 years of research and evaluation demonstrating its effectiveness.
Behaviours can be wide-ranging and can include verbal and physical aggression, non-adherence to boundaries within the family home, truancy, property damage, substance misuse and anti-social behaviour within the community. MST focuses on the risk factors that contribute to or enable a young person to engage in these behaviours.
We work with the parents/carers and others within the child’s environment to address the risk factors linked to their behaviour and support carers to build their capacity to enable them to address the problem behaviours with an emphasis on promoting behaviour change within the young person’s environment.
Whilst supporting parents/carers to develop an indigenous support network for the family to enable them to deal with the young person’s behaviours, we also build the young person’s capacity to cope with personal challenges within their home, school or with their peers in the community. Contact will be determined by the family and will take place in the family setting, acknowledging the uniqueness of each family and tailoring interventions to address each specific case.
Extern are a licensed provider of MST in Northern Ireland. The programme has been provided to young people aged 11-17 years and families in the Northern Health and Social Care Trust since 2001. Following a successful submission to the Big Lottery/Realising Ambition programme managed by Catch22, Extern is now providing MST in two additional Trust areas – Belfast Health & Social Care Trust and the South-Eastern Health & Social Care Trust – where the focus is on early intervention working with children aged 8-13 years.
"Since working with MST my family is getting on better and we feel more in control of what the kids do - we have learnt to say 'no' and it's working for us now."
Contact
Hydepark House
3 McKinney Road
Newtownabbey BT36 4PE
Tel: (028) 9084 0555
