Youth Villages has been a national leader in the adoption and implementation of research-based treatment philosophies in the field of children's mental and behavioral health. Soon after the organization was founded in 1986, Youth Villages adopted the Re-ED (Re-Education of Emotionally Disturbed Children) treatment philosophy. In 1994, with the development of the Youth Villages Intensive In-Home Services Program, the organization became one of the first in the United States to use Multisystemic Therapy (MST) outisde of small clinical trials.