Porter M1
1W.A. Child & Adolescent Mental Health Service
Biography:
Dr Mark Porter is a Clinical Psychologist who implemented and managed the first specialist Therapeutic Community in W.A. for Complex Substance Abuse treatment (1997 – 2005). He has since successfully implemented and managed the first Multisystemic Therapy (MST) programme in Australian child and adolescent mental health services (W.A. CAMHS, 2006+).
Child and adolescent conduct disorders include violent behaviour, rule-violation, substance use, arson and various anti-social behaviors. Without effective intervention, these disorders predict a range of adult problems including mental illness, chronic unemployment, substance abuse, criminal behaviours and incarceration. These disorders are quite common in children and adolescents, but affected families are often poor, marginalised, and difficult to effectively engage, hence service intervention rates are low.
Multi-systemic Therapy (MST) is a licensed intervention with a record of successful implementation in many countries to help families with juveniles regarded as delinquent or having conduct disorders. This intensive, 4-5 month, home-based, intervention for families with young persons (11-17 years), tailors effective methods for parents and carers to positively communicate with and manage their children.
The W.A. CAMHS MST program remains unique within Australian mental health services since 2005, and was implemented with a longitudinal research study to determine MST effectiveness with Australian families. Research findings indicate enduring positive change in parenting style and the child’s behavior is commonly achieved, and the whole family then demonstrates improved mental health functioning.
Parents are empowered with appropriate skills and problem-solving techniques to manage their children and positively contribute to their community. These findings prove that appropriately implemented, evidence-based initiatives, enable engagement with and empowerment of marginalised families, to prevent highly vulnerable children from chronic involvement with mental health and Justice services. Implementation of proven, evidence-based interventions like MST, is important to prevent chronic problems, rather than simply delaying the age these children will enter juvenile detention.