Work highlights
Progress update: Front-end diversion
Law Enforcement-Based Diversion
Representatives from Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Louisiana contracted with the Colorado Regional Community Policing Institute (CRCPI) and Dr. Don Kamin, of Coordinated Care Services, Inc. to develop a specialized CIT for Youth training curriculum. This 8 hour training curriculum serves as a supplement for law enforcement officials who have previously undergone the standard 40 hour CIT training and reviews information specific to youth including:
- Youth mental health symptoms and disorders
- Adolescent development principles
- Crisis de-escalation and intervention skills and communication techniques
- Local service and diversion resources for youth
- The important role of families
A draft of the curriculum was completed in April and a Train the Trainer session was convened in Denver, Colorado in late April for teams of trainers from PA, LA and CO. By June 30th, each of the three states had field tested the draft curriculum and collected feedback from all participants. Currently, the curriculum is being revised based on the results of the field tests. Following final reviews and revisions, it is expected that the final version will be available sometime in the fall 2009.
School-Based Diversion:
State teams from Connecticut, Ohio, and Washington have developed school-focused diversion programs, based on WrapAround Milwaukee’s Mobile Urgent Treatment Team (MUTT) model. In these programs, mental health responders are available to schools to respond to a crisis before police are called.
Connecticut is building on their high fidelity wraparound model, supported by a federal Mental Health Transformation State Incentive Grant, to provide mental health crisis teams in two demonstration schools- Bridgeport (an urban school) and Southington (suburban/rural). In each site, the local Emergency Mobile Psychiatric Provider has agreed to serve as the responder to crisis calls in the schools, provide in-school crisis stabilization services, and appropriate follow-up services including treatment planning and case management services
Ohio is using mental health responders in two counties- Summit and Jackson- to respond to school based incidents involving students at the local middle and high schools. The Responders provide in-school de-escalation crisis services if necessary, arranges for evaluations and helps develop intervention plans. The programs have been widely embraced by both the schools and the juvenile courts.
Washington State’s school-based truancy diversion project is designed for youth who have frequent unexcused absences and for whom attempts by the school to engage the youth and family have been ineffective, thereby putting them at significant risk of referral for mental health services and potential juvenile justice system involvement. Three middle schools within the Pascoe School District were chosen to implement this initiative, and they have contracted with Three Rivers WrapAround - a community mental health services provider- to serve as the point of contact and intervention for referrals from the school.
All three states will be presenting on their diversion programs at the 14th Annual Advancing School Mental Health Conference, to be held in Minneapolis, MN in November 2009.
Probation-Based Diversion:
Texas has developed a pre-adjudicatory, specialized mental health diversion program in four juvenile probation departments- Dallas, Lubbock, Bexar and Travis counties. The Front-End Diversion Initiative (FEDI) is a specialized mental health probation program for juveniles that diverts youth with mental health needs from adjudication using Specialized Juvenile Probation Officers (SJPOs) who receive intensive, specialized training and maintain lower caseloads. SJPOs coordinate services by providing quality case management and link youth and their families to formal and informal community resources and support. Key FEDI program elements include:
- Youth are screened into the program using specific mental health diagnostic criteria
- SJPOs are provided with specialized training and maintain caseloads of no more than 15
- Youth participate in the program for up to 6 months (longer, with the approval of the judge)
- Weekly supervision meetings are held with the youth and family
- SJPOs use motivational interviewing techniques in all work with youth and family
- Case planning includes crisis plans, service and support referrals
- Aftercare planning is used to prepare the youth and family for transition out of the program
All SJPOs underwent extensive motivational interviewing, family engagement, crisis intervention and quality case management training from October 2008 through February 2009. The four sites began implementing FEDI in February with over 75 families actively engaged in services.
Workforce Development
Mental Health Training Curriculum for Juvenile Justice
The Workforce Development SIG is focused on enhancing education and training in order to recruit and retain staff better equipped to work with the large numbers of youth with mental health needs involved with the juvenile justice system. The expectation is that well-trained staff will be more competent in their interactions with youth who have mental health needs, thus creating a safer environment for all. Connecticut, Ohio, Illinois, Texas and Washington contracted with consultant Dr. Holly Hills, of the Florida Mental Health Institute of the University of South Florida, to develop a comprehensive mental health training curriculum for staff working in a broad array of juvenile justice settings, including probation, detention and corrections. This work resulted in the development of the Mental Health Training Curriculum for Juvenile Justice (MHTC-JJ)-a 1.5 day (10.5 hour) training for juvenile justice staff from probation, detention and corrections that includes modules focusing on:
- Mental disorders in youth and important adolescent development concepts
- How mental disorders are identified in juvenile justice youth, including the use of screening and assessment instruments
- Common treatment strategies used with this population
- The role of the youth’s family in their treatment
- Practical strategies for interacting with and responding to youth with mental health needs
In March 2009, the draft MHTC-JJ was pilot tested in Dallas, TX with staff from the Dallas County Juvenile Probation Department. Following this test, minor revisions were made to the training document and a formal Train the Trainer session was convened in Chicago for teams of trainers from the five states. By June 30th, all five states had field tested the draft curriculum. Following final reviews and revisions, it is expected that the final version will be available sometime in the late fall 2009.
Annual Meeting
The third annual meeting of the Models for Change Mental Health/Juvenile Justice Action Network will be held on October 28-29, 2009 in Seattle, WA. Multi-system teams of representatives from the 8 states in the MH/JJ Action Network will gather for two days to discuss current and planned SIG activity and evaluation plans, as well begin the process of formulating sustainability plans to continue the work that has been initiated though Models for Change and the MH/JJ Action Network. Presentations on key topics, as well as opportunities for cross-state networking, will be incorporated into the agenda as well.