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Aug 07 2025
Regional Health Systems new Moral Reconation Therapy group is designed to enhance moral reasoning and promote positive, enduring behavioral change.
As a court liaison for Regional Health Systems’ Outpatient Recovery Services, John Breslin noticed that certain individuals convicted of drug crimes had succeeded in staying out of the criminal justice system after serving their sentences. Many of them shared a key distinction: they had completed Moral Reconation Therapy.
A cognitive behavioral treatment, MRT is designed to enhance moral reasoning, improve decision-making and promote positive behavioral change—particularly among individuals with substance abuse issues and criminal backgrounds.
Now, Moral Reconation Therapy has come to Regional Health Systems. Encouraged by Breslin, Regional Health Systems began offering an MRT group in July to adults involved in the criminal justice system or with substance abuse issues.
“I think this is going to be good,” Breslin said. “Obviously not every therapy works for everybody but I’m hopeful that the guys who we’re starting with are great fits for MRT.”
Established in the early 1980s in the Shelby County, Tennessee correctional system, MRT is utilized in drug, DUI and mental health courts, criminal justice diversion programs, substance abuse programs, correctional settings and similar environments. Advocates contend that it can improve self-image and identity, enhance a sense of purpose and establish healthy relationships.
MRT uses 16 steps along a “Freedom Ladder” to achieve enduring, positive behavioral change. Each step examines a moral trait.
Steps one and two, for example, are honesty and trust. In fulfilling those steps, participants review material about disloyalty—that it is the lowest moral and behavioral stage and is characterized by lying, cheating, stealing and related behaviors—then complete workbook exercises on the traits and present to their group. Other steps include healing damaged relationships, setting long- and short-term goals, maintaining positive change and evaluating the relationship between an individual’s inner self and personality.
The group meets once a week for 90 minutes in Regional Health System’s Stark Center in East Chicago. With guidance from Breslin, group members who have completed a step determine if a participant is ready to move on from that level to the next. Completing the course is expected to take 18-24 weeks.
“Part of what I like about it is that the folks who have gone through a step become guides for the people in lower steps,” Breslin said. “If you’re further up the ladder, you can help pull people up the ladder.”
Research indicates that Moral Reconation Therapy is effective. A meta-analysis of MRT published in 2013, reported that “MRT had a small but important effect on recidivism.” A 2001 research paper showed that “significantly fewer re-arrests” occurred for former offenders who participated in an Oregon MRT program than for those who hadn’t.
Today, MRT is utilized in all 50 states and nine countries, according to the official website of Moral Reconation Therapy.
Breslin became even more encouraged about the therapy after receiving training to administer it. During training, he said, he recognized techniques and strategies similar to others he’s seen work effectively in behavioral cognitive therapy.
“It can move people forward on a much more productive path in a very structured way,” he said. “And it’s an open group, so people can come in at any time.”
To find out more about Regional Health System’s new Moral Reconation Therapy group, call 219.769.4005.
