Training in MST is intensive and ongoing and is provided in three ways:

1. Five days of introductory training are provided for all staff who will treat and/or clinically supervise MST cases.

2. Treatment teams and their clinical supervisors receive weekly telephone consultation from a trained MST expert.

3. One and one-half-day training “booster” sessions are provided quarterly.

Adherence to the MST treatment model is essential. MST has been proven to be a cost effective means of treating behaviour-disordered youth who have high and complex needs. Adherence to the treatment model is essential for obtaining positive results.

The research conducted on the effectiveness of MST has consistently demonstrated that strong or high adherence to the model is correlated with strong treatment outcomes, and poor adherence is associated with substantially poorer outcomes.

Adherence is the primary focus of the weekly consultation process and makes it a critical element of any program. Additionally, heavy emphasis is placed on establishing on-site supervision practices that facilitate and increase therapist adherence, and on implementing systems that directly measure therapist adherence within each MST program.