A New Kind Of Therapy

Matthew Benton's problems started in middle school: marijuana, shoplifting, cutting class. Then Matthew, 15, broke into a neighbor's apartment, stole checks, and bought cocaine. His parents were furious, and so he ran away from home.

He's on probation, and running away could mean jail.

Both his parents, Susie and Joe, are teachers, and they feel like failures. They used to think of themselves as good parents. "We kind of thought that if you were good people and you modeled good things, set good examples, loved your children, that they would be okay," says Susie, "But it doesn't always work out that way."

Matthew admits that he has been smoking marijuana and cocaine, spending $150 a week on drugs. He gets the money, he says, from stealing, mostly from his parents. So far, nothing's gotten through: Not jail time, not therapy, not even an expensive wilderness boot camp.

So now his parents are trying a new treatment program. 42-year-old Jackie Conyers is a counselor in this innovative and intense treatment program, which Charleston's courts can order for their toughest cases.

"Boot camps don't really work for kids," says Jackie. "Because you have other kids in boot camps who are negative peers. And when you say throw the kid in jail for 24 hours, 48 hours, what are you doing? You're throwing them in with kids who have been in similar situations as themselves. So that's not helping."

Those programs change nothing at home, which is what Jackie plans to do. The program is called Multi-Systemic Therapy (MST), and its results are amazing. Studies show that a year after completing MST, kids have 40 percent fewer arrests than kids in comparable programs. And while locking an offender up cost the state $40,000 a year, MST averages only $5500.

The key to changing behavior, Jackie says, is intensive work, not just with the kids, but with every influence in their lives: their neighbors, teachers, friends, and especially their parents.

Often, Jackie says, parents are surprised to find out how much effort goes into changing their behavior, not their kids'.

For the next 6 months, Jackie will be in the Benton's home nearly every day.

Joe admits that he and his wife have been too "wishy-washy" with their son. No more: together, Joe, Susie and Jackie draft a no-nonsense behavior plan for Matthew and for themselves.

Now, Matthew will submit to random drug tests. Now, if he breaks a rule, he pays a price. For minor violations, like being rude, he might lose TV or phone privileges. Major violations could mean jail time.

Compliance can earn rewards: a movie, or perhaps a visit with a friend. The key is consistency, which was lacking in the past. "We want to work on not letting him slide," says Jackie.

The Bentons are encouraged when Matthew obligingly signs the contract. But jail is his only other option, and Jackie thinks she's seen this act before.

"I was watching his facial expression as his mom was reading through the behavior contract. I could just see that you know in his mind he's going yeah in your dreams," says Jackie.

In fact, the not so sweet side of Matthew was obvious as soon as the terms of the contract were laid out. It happened right after a therapy session on his parents wedding anniversary. He'd already admitted he stole checks to buy drugs, but swore no one else was involved.

"I saw the checks that were written and not all the signatures on those checks are Matt's. Two of the checks were signed with a very different handwriting from the other checks," says Susie.

Jackie tells them to confront their son. When they do, he reacts angrily, refusing to tell them who else was involved. The confrontation ends without him revealing anything.

The next time he and his parents go before the judge, Joe and Susie didn't mention that he has lied.

While Matthew is happy, Jackie is very disappointed. Mortified that the confrontation happened in front of TV cameras, Susie seems to feel that was punishment enough for Matt.

Says Jackie: "These parents want to make sure that Matt's happy and Matt still loves them and doesn't think THEY'RE these terrible people. So it's going to be challenging job on my part to help them see that your child will still love you even though you're enforcing rules and being the parent you need to be."

Jackie says there have to be consequences for actions, or the therapy won't work.

"It's almost like he's the parent, you're the kids. And we need to flip that role around," Jackie tells Susie.

"Well, it is very often that he's in charge," Susie admits.

The Bentons reluctantly agree and go back before the judge, who, when the lying is exposed, sends Matthew to detention for 48 hours. He says he is shocked: "I didn't think I was going to go to jail for lying to my parents."

Two weeks later, at home, now he's on his best behavior. Jail, Jackie thinks, effectively made the point that MST is serious: actions will have consequences.

Joe and Susie say their son has been much better. Matt has been so well behaved that his parents haven't had to do much enforcing. They say thanks to MST, they've gone from wishy-washy to determined.

Matthew is "a work in progress," Jackie says, but the emphasis now is on progress: "His words say I want to do the right thing. His actions are saying I want to do the right thing. But we'll see." The process, she says, takes a long time.