June 2, 2026
My years as a mother, grandmother, mentor, and state senator have taught me many things, but perhaps the most important lesson is this: when families are strong, everything else becomes possible. After listening to the stories of hundreds of Idaho families, I am convinced that healing the family is the most important thing we can do for the next generation. To keep children in a home and heal the home is where the real work should be done. It is insanity to remove a child and send them back to the same dysfunction that added to their challenges.
Part one of three: There is a conversation happening across Idaho that most people never hear.
It happens behind closed doors.
It happens in homes where parents have stopped sleeping because they do not know if their child will come home tonight.
It happens in schools where educators are trying to keep a student engaged who seems to be slipping further away each week.
It happens in juvenile probation offices, counseling centers, hospitals, and courtrooms.
And it usually begins with the same question:
“What do we do now?”
Not every struggling teenager needs intensive intervention. But there is a group of youth who are at significant risk of entering the juvenile justice system, being removed from their homes, or becoming involved in increasingly dangerous behaviors.
For these families, traditional outpatient therapy is often not enough.
That is where Multisystemic Therapy (MST) comes in.
Unlike traditional counseling, MST does not expect families to show up once a week in an office and somehow solve years of challenges in fifty minutes. Instead, therapists go directly into homes, schools, and communities to work alongside families where life is actually happening.
MST focuses on youth ages 12–17 who are experiencing serious behavioral concerns, including chronic truancy, aggression, substance use, criminal behavior, repeated law enforcement involvement, or significant family conflict.
The goal is simple:
Keep youth safely at home, in school, and out of detention whenever possible.
But the approach is anything but simple.
MST recognizes something many Idaho parents already know:
Children do not live in isolation.
Their behavior is influenced by family relationships, peer groups, schools, social media, community supports, and countless other factors.
If we only focus on the child, we often miss the real drivers of the problem.
MST works with the entire system surrounding the youth. Therapists help caregivers strengthen supervision and discipline strategies. They work with schools to improve attendance and performance. They help families address negative peer influences and build healthier support networks.
Most importantly, they empower parents and caregivers to become the primary agents of change.
The therapist does not become the family’s long-term solution.
The family does.
That distinction matters.
MST is intensive. Therapists are available when crises happen rather than waiting until the next scheduled appointment. Services typically last three to five months and are delivered in the family’s natural environment.
This is not about labeling kids as bad.
It is about recognizing that many youth are responding to difficult circumstances, unhealthy influences, unmet needs, and systems that are struggling around them.
Idaho families deserve more than waiting until a crisis becomes a catastrophe.
They deserve access to interventions that meet them where they are and help them build lasting change.
That is exactly what Multisystemic Therapy was designed to do.
In Part Two, we will look at why programs like MST matter not only to individual families but also to Idaho communities, taxpayers, schools, and public safety.
God bless,
Senator Christy Zito,
Idaho State Senate
District 8,
Protecting Freedom for Future Generations
P.S. If you haven’t already, subscribe to my Substack (zitoforidaho.substack.com) for straight talk from the Capitol and updates you won’t get from the mainstream press. Let’s stay connected and stay strong. See you at the polls on May 19!
