Multi-systemic therapy: beyond offending behaviour

Abstract

In this article I would like to reflect about the specific contributions multi-systemic therapy has to make within the context of offending behaviour work. Having worked previously as a clinical psychologist in a tertiary out-patient specialist mental health adolescent service in North London, I was confronted with the limitations of my interventions to reach these families that were desperate for help to regain control over their out-of control offspring, who were now getting involved in criminal acts. Individual anger management was only touching the surface and often families showed difficulty in coming to regular appointments and turned up at crisis point, when they were expecting outside agencies to solve the problems for them.