Researcher serves global and local communities

Some may ask: why respond to global disasters in Japan, India, or Thailand? Why set up reverse osmosis water purification units in West Africa? Why conduct work in countries other than the U.S. where health indicators are languishing? Cynthia Cupit Swenson, Ph.D. has an answer.

“Global and local health are very intertwined,” said Swenson. “We’ve moved closer together as a world. Because of technology, the things we do and the things we say affect people everywhere very strongly. Why can’t we be innovative in South Carolina and take what we know abroad, and vice-versa? We can’t restrict ourselves to where we’re most comfortable—that impedes growth.”

Swenson is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). Her research career has taken two paths. The first has been the study of Multisystemic Therapy (MST) with delinquent youth and their families. MST is an intensive family and community-based treatment program that focuses on all levels of a youth’s environment from the school to the neighborhood to their families directly. A neighborhood in North Charleston was her initial focus.

A three-year Healthy South Carolina initiative called Neighborhood Solutions involved going into a high crime neighborhood, getting to know the leaders, and following their vision of solutions for youth crime, substance abuse, and school exclusion. The project resulted in significant reductions in youth substance abuse and crime and increases in school attendance. Many of the neighborhood activities developed during the project have been sustained for 15 years.

While Dr. Swenson has maintained an ongoing relationship with the Charleston community, she has simultaneously focused on the second path of her career – adapting MST to families who have experienced abuse or neglect of a child and are under the guidance of Child Protective Services. This model called Multisystemic Therapy for Child Abuse and Neglect (MST-CAN) was proven effective in a 5-year randomized trial funded by the NIMH and has been rated as evidence-based by the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare. Since the seminal research, MST-CAN has been implemented in the U.S. and four other countries.

Swenson’s work in the child abuse and neglect area is making a significant mark in the field nationally and internationally but it was the neighborhood project in North Charleston and the children of that neighborhood that led Swenson to a rural village called Okurase in Ghana, West Africa to embark on a community development project called Project Okurase that could make a substantial difference for many of the world’s most vulnerable people.  

“In North Charleston, the neighborhood project started a children’s West African dance and drumming company called Djole to get kids off the street,” remarked Swenson.  “It was an intervention for youth in North Charleston that connected us with West Africa. We bought professional drums from a drum maker in Ghana called Powerful and this drum purchase changed the course of all our lives.”  The children from North Charleston have been to Ghana and they and their community have been involved in Project OKURASE for 7 years.

Project Okurase is a collaborative effort of the village of Okurase, Nkabom Artiste and Craftspeople Association in Ghana, Gethsemani Circle of Friends in Charleston, SC (a nonprofit developed from the neighborhood project), and MUSC. Project Okurase follows the same principle as the neighborhood project – following the vision of the village for their solutions to problems or concerns.  When Swenson is not contributing her time to at-risk youth and their families, she is detailing logistics for Project Okurase—a continually daunting task—as co-director of the non-profit organization.

Although Dr. Swenson constantly works for greater impact in local and global communities, she finds time to decompress through music and service. When asked what kind of music she enjoys, Swenson replied, “Whatever strikes me at the time. Choosing just one genre seems restrictive.” This speaks to her working style, too. In confronting the world’s greatest challenges, restricting one’s self to what’s familiar leads to little growth and little opportunity.   

For more colorful examples of who Project Okurase serves or what is being done, look no further than the second floor of the James W. Colbert library where retina-popping images by San Francisco photographer Gerald Bybee show the various aspects of village life in Ghana. These photographs showcase one of many great forms of outreach at MUSC. You can get involved with Project Okurase by visiting their website at projectokurase.org or contacting Dr. Swenson directly.

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