Blog: Adolescent Mental Health

Youth in the juvenile justice system are at high-risk for physical, mental and developmental health issues according to a new policy statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Committee on Adolescence. Despite this, many youths don’t receive the level of health care they need, either in the system or when they get out. The report represents the first update in 10 years to the Health Care for Youth in the Juvenile Justice System.
Nationwide 11 million juveniles were arrested in 2008, according to the report. And while not all arrested youth are placed in some form of detention (either short- or long-term) the median stay in custody in 2006 was 65 days. Eighty percent remained in detention for at least 30 days and 57 percent for at least 90 days. All of those youths require healthcare of some kind.
“We wanted to advocate for these youth to have the same level and standards of care as non-incarcerated youth in the community,” the report’s lead author, Dr. Paula Braverman, Director of Community Programs at the Cincinatti Children’s Hospital Medical Center said in an email. She said the Committee on Adolescence also “outlined specific recommendations which included the training and skill of the health care providers.”
Currently, the National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC) publishes standards for care in juvenile facilities. At a minimum, the NCCHC says, youth should be screened by health care professionals immediately upon arriving at an intake facility to check for contagious conditions, urgent health needs and suicidal thoughts. Within seven days of intake, youth should be given a hands-on, comprehensive health examination by a doctor. Girls and boys are tested for sexually transmitted diseases and vaccinations are updated. A further mental health screening must be performed within 14 days. A dental examination must be performed within seven days.

The federal Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released a proposed rule for the health insurance exchanges, created by the new health care reform law.
According to the Legal Action Center, it fails to identify mental health and substance abuse disorders providers as essential community providers that serve predominantly low-income and medically underserved populations. In addition, they state there are other improvements to the proposed regulation that would better ensure that the health needs of people with mental and substnce sbuse disorders are better met.
Read from their statement after the jump:

• Scholarships for Judges Managing Challenging Family Law
  This training is co-sponsored by the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges and the National Judicial College, October 24-27, 2011, in Reno, Nevada. The scholarships would cover the $985 tuition fee and the participant would be responsible for the $245 conference fee as well as their own travel expenses.
• National Geographic Examines the Teenage Brain
  Excitement, Novelty and Risk: A strength-based look at adolescence as a highly functional, even adaptive period.
• OJJDP Bulletin Examines State Juvenile Transfer Laws
  In the 1980s and 1990s, legislatures in nearly every state expanded transfer laws that allowed or required the prosecution of juveniles in adult criminal courts. This bulletin, which is part of the Juvenile Offenders and Victims National Report Series, provides the latest overview of state transfer laws and practices and examines available state-level data on juveniles adjudicated in the criminal justice system.

 
 
 
Want to present at the 2012 Joint Meeting on Adolescent Treatment Effectiveness (JMATE)? The organizers have put out a call for abstracts. (They're due November 1, 2011). Here's the official announcement: 
 

We are thrilled to announce that the 2012 Joint Meeting on Adolescent Treatment Effectiveness (JMATE) is taking place April 10-12, 2012 in Washington, DC. 
 
We are currently seeking abstract submissions! The deadline for submission is November 1, 2011. For complete details and instructions on how to submit your abstract, please see the attached 2012 JMATE Call for Abstracts (PDF) or visit the Abstract Submission page of the JMATE Website at www.jmate.org/jmate2012/. 
 
If you have any questions or additional information needs, please contact us at JMATE-info@jbsinternational.com.  Thank you for your continued work on behalf of adolescent treatment and recovery!

>>Download the call for abstracts here.

• Promising Practice: Helping Young People into Employment
  LA Fitness founder Fred Turok spearheaded "Transforming a Generation," a program that provides on the job training and has helped 1,400 young people into jobs or higher education.
• Two OJJDP Grants Cut for Lack of Funding
  The Comprehensive Anti-Gang Strategies and Programs and Evaluation of the Second Chance Act Juvenile Mentoring Initiatives were worth $750,000. Both grants were not awarded due to spending cuts in 2011. (Hat tip to Youth Today)
• NIATx Training: Billing Third-Party Payers
  This learning collaborative will focus on giving behavioral healthcare providers, including adolescent substance abuse treatment providers, the skills they need to bill third-party payers for their services. Application deadline has been extended to September 23.
• New Guide for Community Collaboration
  The National Collaboration for Youth has created "Invitation to the Big Picture: Implementing a Local Collaboration for Youth in Your Community," a guide to identifying or forming an association of local child- and youth-serving agencies. Please use and share this guide with your national and local networks. (Hat tip FYI)

• Report: Tribal Youth in the Federal Justice System
  Cosponsored by OJJDP and the Bureau of Justice Statistics, this report is now available online. The report describes findings from a study that explored issues surrounding American Indian youth who are processed in the federal justice system, and discusses the prevalence, characteristics, and outcomes at each stage of the justice system.
• From PBS: Stats and Facts on Juveniles Tried as Adults
  Evidence that deterrent effects are minimal or nonexistent, and that, trying juveniles in criminal court may result in higher rates of reoffending.
• Juvenile Offender Becomes Advocate for Youth At-Risk
  Starcia Ague helped push through a law in the state of Washington that allows Class A juvenile felony records to be sealed, at the discretion of the judge, as long as youth have a clean record for five years after their release.

• Selecting and Implementing Evidence-Based Practices
  Treatment funding is being increasingly tied to outcomes, a trend expected to continue as the integration of behavioral health with primary care moves forward in the context of healthcare reform. Learn more from the Addiction Technology Transfer Center of New England about achieving desired client outcomes in part 2 of a 3-part series.
• Poll: Drug Abuse Equals Childhood Obesity as Top Health Concern for Kids
  On Aug. 15th, the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital released the results of its 5th annual national poll, in which Americans rated drug abuse and childhood obesity as the number one health concern for our nation’s youth. This is important news because it shows that drug abuse is now on the radar screens of people throughout the country and that Americans are very concerned about this issue. Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America issues a statement in response. (Hat tip to Christa Myers.)

 
As we’ve previously discussed, Recovery Month is celebrated each September to help promote the societal benefits of treatment for mental and substance use disorders, celebrate people in recovery, laud the contributions of treatment providers, and promote the message that prevention works, treatment is effective and people can and do recover.
 
As part of Recovery Month, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) develops a toolkit every year with educational materials and tools to help individuals and organizations plan events to celebrate Recovery Month. The toolkit is broken down into sections by audience and types of resources.
 
The 2011 theme, “Join the Voices for Recovery: Recovery Benefits Everyone,” showcases how public awareness will increase access to those in need of essential substance use and mental health services and how legislative changes will improve the overall health and well-being of people in the United States.
 
The toolkit also covers mental health problems and substance use disorders of adolescent and young adults. According to SAMHSA’s 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, almost 2 million 12 through 17-year-olds needed treatment for a substance use disorder in 2009. A survey conducted by the National Health and Nutritional Examination found that 13 percent of children ages 8 to 15 had at least one mental health problem, a rate comparable to diabetes, asthma, and other diseases. As a result, the toolkit has useful information, such as warning signs of a developing substance use disorder and symptoms of mental health problems -- it also provides a wide range of resources, which can be narrowed to only show youth programs.
 
If you are interested in more information, the SAMHSA Recovery Month toolkit is available online and in hard copy. For other information about Recovery Month, please visit our website and become a fan of the Facebook Page, or follow us on Twitter.
 

Michele Monroe is a Public Health Analyst for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

If you care about adolescent substance abuse treatment (and mental health treatment), this is really important.
As I posted recently, SAMHSA is proposing big changes to its mental health and alcohol and drug treatment block grants. They want your comments by this Friday, June 3, 2011 June 9, 2011.
Ho-hum, right?
Far from it. We need you and everyone you know to submit comments to support SAMHSA's inclusion of adolescents/youth as a target population by Friday (see below for a draft message you can use or adapt).

>>Submit your email comments to SAMHSA the easy way, using this action alert from sparkaction.