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Goals and structure

Goals and objectives

The overall goal of the Mental Health/Juvenile Justice Action Network is to establish a leadership community of states that will forge and implement new strategies for better identifying and treating youth with mental health needs involved with the juvenile justice system.

The Network is organized around four key objectives:

  1. Foster the development and exchange of ideas among the Network states.
    Activities include: conference calls, teleconference calls on key topics, use of the Action Network website, network cross-state site visits.
  2. Support and enhance the progress already underway within each of the Network states by providing information, resources and expertise.
    Activities include: developing state strategic action plans to address an identified topic and implementing the strategic plans, with technical assistance provided as necessary.
  3. Develop and implement new strategies and solutions to common problems.
    Activities include: identifying strategic innovation topics, designating representatives to serve on Strategic Innovation Groups (SIGs), implementing the SIG recommendations, tracking resulting changes
  4. Provide national leadership on mental health and juvenile justice.
    Activities include: convening a national leadership forum, conducting National Conference presentations, producing publications document the Network experience and findings, serving as host sites to visiting states or communities

Success indicators

It is anticipated that the states participating in the MH/JJ Action Network will see positive change and measurable improvement in a range of indicators as a result of their participation and involvement with the Action Network. These indicators of success are grouped into three categories: 

  • General indicators across all of the action network states
  • "Strategic innovation" specific indicators from implementation of select innovations
  • State specific improvements resulting from each state’s in-state activities.  

Anticipated outcomes

  • The creation of a learning network resulting in the accelerated sharing and implementation of effective policies and practices.
  • Concrete improvements within the Network states for the identification and treatment of justice-involved youth with mental health problems.
  • The development and implementation of innovative strategies to address critical mental health and juvenile justice confronting states.
  • The establishment of a leadership community that will shape the nationwide response for addressing the needs of youth with mental health issues in contact with the juvenile justice system.

Network structure

Coordination

The Mental Health Juvenile Justice Action Network is coordinated by the National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice (NCMHJJ) at Policy Research Associates in Delmar, NY.

Participating state teams

The network is comprised of the four Models for Change States: Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Illinois, Washington and four new partnering states: Connecticut, Colorado, Ohio, Texas.  The partner states were all selected using a highly competitive application process based on objective criteria. Each state has the following:

  • A Core Team consists of commissioners and senior-level administrators/decision makers from the state mental health and juvenile justice systems; a representative from a statewide children’s mental health organization; a parent, family member or youth, and other stakeholder representatives from relevant systems (the judiciary, child welfare, substance abuse, education). The Core Team is responsible for providing support for the Action Network.
  • A larger Home Team which consists of representatives from the broader child serving systems who work in parallel with the mental health and juvenile justice systems, and who will work in conjunction with the Core Team within the state. 
  • A Team Leader who provides leadership for the state’s Action Network activities, coordinates the work of the Core Team, and serves as liaison between the state’s Core and Home teams and the National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice. 

Strategic innovations

Strategic Innovation Groups (SIGs) are a structured approach specifically designed to generate new and innovative solutions through a collaborative process designed to bring about rapid responses to critical issues through the development and implementation of practical recommendations, products or policies. SIGs constitute a mechanism within the Action Network for quickly developing, diffusing and implementing new knowledge among the Network States around critical and pressing mental health issues within the juvenile justice context.

The SIG process involves the following steps:

  1. Identify SIG topics: Each year, participating states will identify two "strategic innovations" or work areas of focus to address through the action network.
  2. Identify SIG participants: participating states will select the SIG groups they want to work on and identify representatives to participate on the SIG. Each Network state must designate two representatives to participate on at least one SIG.
  3. Convene 1st SIG meeting: The first set of SIG meetings are convened on each topic. These meetings are used to “drill down” on the selected SIG topic to identify the specific focus on the innovation, to develop broad goals and objectives and to begin to designate responsibilities.
  4. Convene 2nd SIG meeting: A second set of SIG meetings are convened to develop specific implementation recommendations for addressing the SIG topic. A summary report is prepared detailing the implementation recommendations.
  5. Implement recommendations: All states on the SIG implement the recommendations. An evaluation component is built into the implementation process to track changes that occur as a result of the SIG.

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