Services

This service is an intensive, family focused intervention, serving families with delinquent youth ages 12-17 who are at risk of formal Person In Need of Supervision (PINS) action or being placed outside of their home. The youth must have chronic behaviors such as: noncompliance, verbal and/or physically aggression, truancy, school failure, not following curfew, running away, illegal substance use, and/or criminal activity in 2 or more environments such as home, school and/or community.

Services are provided in the natural environment of the youth- family, peers, school, and community. We believe that there is good in families. Families are empowered to solve the youth’s own behavior because they are the most influential part of the youth’s life. Interventions are research-based and family, school and peer factors are targeted as this is linked to delinquent and drug use behavior. Consistent outcomes found MST to have:

• Higher consumer satisfaction
• Decreased long term rates of re-arrest
• Decreased longer term rates of days in out of home placements
• Improved family relations and functioning
• Increased in mainstream school attendance
• Decreased adolescent substance use

MST therapists are master level staff who oversee 4-6 families at a time to dedicate the attention needed to families. A key feature of MST is the 24 hour, 7-day availability to families in the program. Average treatment time is 3-5 months. MST also has highly structured processes for quality assurance. We are proud to be able to offer this service at no cost to families in Erie, Niagara, Cattaraugus and Allegany counties.

MST Contingency Management (MST-CM) is an adaptation of Multisystemic Therapy that is specifically focused on addressing substance abuse problems.  MST-CM builds upon the standard MST model, which is used to treat serious juvenile offenders, by including a contingency management protocol and focusing treatment more specifically on the youth’s substance use in cases where such an approach is warranted.

In 1997 Catholic Charities chose to be a provider of MST as we needed to do a better job in addressing the strong needs of delinquent youth and their families in our communities. We chose an evidenced based program which research has proven over 25 years that MST shows positive results. Catholic Charities is honored to be a licensed MST Network Partner as we are committed to disseminating the MST model with full integrity and fidelity. MST is highly supported by research organizations such as U.S Surgeon General, U.S Department of Justice and National Institute on Drug Abuse amongst many others. We are considered a Model Program under Blueprints for Violence Prevention.

For more information on MST, please visit www.mstservices.com

For more information about how to bring MST to your community, please contact:

Marie Andersen-Strait, LMSW
MST Program Manager
Catholic Charities
3982 Main St.
Amherst, NY 14226
(716) 204-0555, ext. 330
marie.andersen-strait@ccwny.org

Elizabeth Mayer, LMSW
MST Systems Supervisor/Program Director
Catholic Charities
3982 Main St.
Amherst, NY 14226
(716) 204-0555, ext. 307
elizabeth.mayer@ccwny.org  

Susan Dee, LCSW
MST Systems Supervisor/Program Director
Catholic Charities
3982 Main St.
Amherst, NY 14226
(716) 204-0555, ext. 328
susan.dee@ccwny.org
 
Contact Info:

Erie County

Laura Greene, LCSW-r
MST Program Supervisor
Catholic Charities
3982 Main Street
Amherst, NY  14226
(716) 204-0555, ext. 306
laura.greene@ccwny.org

Erie County Preventive MST is pleased to be funded by Erie County Department of Social Services.

Lori Bentley, LMSW
MST Program Supervisor
Catholic Charities
930 Genesee St.
Buffalo, NY 14211
(716) 597-0756, ext. 213
lori.bentley@ccwny.org

Erin DeWolfe, MSW
MST-CM Supervisor
Catholic Charities
33 Wilkesbarre Avenue
Lackawanna, NY 14218
(716) 822-6877, ext. 210
erin.dewolfe@ccwny.org

Erie County Juvenile Justice MST is pleased to be funded by Erie County Department of Mental Health.

Niagara Falls

Jackie Richter, LMSW
MST Program Supervisor
Catholic Charities
644 Park Place
Niagara Falls, NY 14301
(716) 282-4991, ext. 13
jackie.richter@ccwny.org

Niagara Falls MST is pleased to be funded by Niagara County Department of Social Services and Niagara County Department of Probation through the Collaborative Evidence-Based Initiative/J-RISC Grant.

Lockport and North Tonawanda

Dana Spinelli, LMSW
MST Program Supervisor
Catholic Charities
450 Bewley Building
Lockport, NY 14094
(716) 478-0035, ext. 216
dana.spinelli@ccwny.org

Lockport and North Tonawanda MST is pleased to be funded by Niagara County Department of Social Services.

Southern Tier

Francis LaChappelle, MSEd
MST Program Supervisor
Catholic Charities
2636 West State Street
Holiday Park Centre, Suite 301
Olean, NY 14760
(716) 372-0101
francis.lachappelle@ccwny.org

Southern Tier MST is pleased to be funded by Cattaraugus Department of Social Services and Allegany Department of Social Services.