Personality disorder programme No longer a diagnosis of exclusion

An article in The Society Guardian (Wednesday May 26, 2010) recently hailed the Brandon Centre in London, and its random control trial for Multisystemic Therapy, as a good example of a charity providing evidence of its impact.

The article focuses on the government’s ‘big society’ as the answer to fixing some of the country’s entrenched social problems whilst at the same time reducing the budget deficit. Charities are seen as the solution to help build the ‘big society’.

But the piece claims the challenges for charities of measuring their impact is considerable, but is not insurmountable. It further suggests that if ministers get tough on charities, demanding evidence before making funding decisions, these charities will be vulnerable.

Below are a couple of excerpts from the piece written by Martin Brookes (chief executive of New Philanthropy Capital). The report (‘Scaling Up for the Big Society’) on which this article is based, also singles out the Brandon Centre as a charity that deserves to be scaled up. The report is available at www.philanthropycapital.org

“Another example is the Brandon Centre in London. It has been running a random control trial – the gold standard in research practices – for a “multisystemic therapy” service for children in trouble with the police. Data collected from criminal records shows a significant decrease in offending for the group receiving the service compared with the control group. The trial finished in March and full results will be available later this year. Indications are that it will show potential improvements in behaviour and savings to the taxpayer if rolled out.

“If charities want to be the answer to helping build “big society” they need to get serious about demonstrating their impact. The best should be supported and scaled up.”