Blog: Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment

Every week Reclaiming Futures rounds up the latest news on juvenile justice reform, adolescent substance abuse treatment, and teen mental health. 

Clinical Conversations about Cannabis: Using Elicit-Provide-Elicit (ATTC Network)
Given the current climate of conflicting messages and changing policy related to marijuana, counselors need both sources of reliable information and effective strategies to guide their interventions as they talk with clients about this controversial subject. The purpose of this article is to describe how Motivational Interviewing (MI) strategies can inform clinical conversations about cannabis use, with a focus on the Elicit – Provide – Elicit (EPE) model as one potentially useful tool.

Every week Reclaiming Futures rounds up the latest news on juvenile justice reform, adolescent substance abuse treatment, and teen mental health. 

Assessing Trauma in Kids Just Got A Little Better (Psych Central)
A research team at Case Western Reserve University  proposed and tested a new method to assess trauma in youth. It would be especially relevant for assessment within the juvenile justice system.

Every week Reclaiming Futures rounds up the latest news on juvenile justice reform, adolescent substance abuse treatment, and teen mental health. 

House Proposal Would Eliminate Key JJDPA Funding (Juvenile Justice Information Exchange)
This past week the House Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Sciences & Related Agencies, released their FY'16 Appropriations proposal, causing alarm in the juvenile justice community. Juvenile justice funding that goes to states, under the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, would be eliminated under the new proposal. For more information you can  check out this JJIE story by Gary Gately,  and also follow National Juvenile Justice Network for updates.

Juvenile Justice Reform

• How Curfews Have Changed Through History (TIME)
  In light of recent events in Baltimore, Lily Rothman, Archive Editor of TIME.com, examines the historical reasons for and effects of curfews, and why emergency curfews should be thought of differently than permanent juvenile curfews

Juvenile Justice Reform

Addiction to alcohol and other drugs impacts more than 85 million Americans. This growing problem has sparked a coast-to-coast addiction and recovery awareness campaign: UNITE to Face Addiction.

There are 2.5 million alcohol-related deaths worldwide every year. Approximately nine percent, or 320,000 of those deaths, are among young people aged 15-29.

April is Alcohol Awareness Month, and there are many ways to get involved to help create awareness and encourage individuals and families to get help for alcohol-related problems.

The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD) has sponsored Alcohol Awareness Month every April since 1987 and provides all the information and resources you’ll need to support this cause.

The theme for this year’s 2015 NCADD Alcohol Awareness Month was chosen to highlight the pervasive impact that alcohol, alcohol-related problems and alcoholism have on individuals, on families and children, in the workplace and in our communities: "For the Health of It:  Early Education on Alcoholism and Addiction."

The NCADD provides many resources that help bring light to this issue and we are all encouraged to share them widely:

Drinking Too Much Too Fast Can Kill You

NCADD's Self-Test for Teenagers

Facts About Underage Drinking

"I Wasn't Having Fun Anymore"

Stories of Recovery

Underage and College Drinking

Ten Tips for Prevention

Family History and Genetics

Alcohol Energy Drinks

Local NCADD Affiliates as well as schools, colleges, churches, and countless other community organizations will sponsor a host of activities to support this cause.

Many organizations have already joined in and are doing their part to raise awareness, including the following:

• National Institutes of Health (NIH)
• The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN)
• National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

If you’re interested in hosting an event or spreading the word, NCADD also has an “Organizer’s guide” to make it easy and effective in your community! The Organizer’s guide includes:

• Theme, History, Stigma and Links to Additional Resources
• Sample Proclamation
• Sample Media Advisory and News Release
• Sample PSA scripts
• Sample Op-Ed Newspaper article
• Sample Letter to Editor
• Suggested Grassroots Community Activities:  States, Communities, Schools,
• Students, Colleges, Media, Religious Organizations and Parents

For more information, visit the NCADD website.

Juvenile Justice Reform

• How Prison Stints Replaced Study Hall (Politico)
  In 2012, the U.S. Department of Justice filed suit to stop the “taxi service” in Meridian’s public schools, where 86 percent of the students are black. The DOJ suit, still unresolved, said children were being incarcerated so “arbitrarily and severely as to shock the conscience.”

• Crime & Delinquency Council selects S.D. for ‘Pay for Success’ (Times of San Diego)
  “NCCD strongly believes that Pay for Success creates a real possibility for sustained, positive change in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems,” said Kathy Park, acting president of NCCD. “We are proud to work with these three extremely dynamic programs to see if this innovative financing will work for them.

• New Bill Would Change How Minors are Tried as Adults (News 4 Jax)
  A bill making its way through the state legislature would cut down on how often State Attorneys can charge juveniles as adults. Under the proposal, it would take a grand jury to charge anyone under the age of 13 as an adult. Prosecutors would only be able to charge 14 and 15 year olds as adults in cases of murder, manslaughter, and sexual assault.

Jobs, Grants, Events and Webinars

• Please share the Reclaiming Futures Opportunity Board with your colleagues in the juvenile justice, adolescent substance abuse and teen mental health areas. It's free to browse and post!

Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment and Mental Health

• Teens in Detention Centers Find Voice, Rehab in Youth Theater (Herald Media)
  On a small stage, seven local teens stood in scrubs -- their backs to an audience of about 75. One by one, they turned around, each somber or angry or both as they told stories of juvenile lockdown and the reasons that got them there. Drugs, truancy, rules, respect, depression and decisions … each story is laced with regret -- each author feels misunderstood -- and most tell of trouble at home.
• Medical College awards $250,000 to reduce youth alcohol, drug abuse (BizTimes.com)
  The Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin (AHW) Endowment awarded $250,000 over two years to reduce the prevalence of alcohol and other drug abuse among youth in northwest Wisconsin’s Rusk County. The Medical College of Wisconsin is the steward of the AHW Endowment as it works to catalyze health improvement within the state.

• New Data: Ind. Teens Trying Pot More Often Than Alcohol and Cigarettes (WNDU.com)
  Dr. Elmaadawi is concerned mainly for teen use. He says there is proven research marijuana can be healing to cancer patients and others suffering from chronic pain, but use for teens is dangerous. He says those who try the drug before age 18 are 67% more likely to continue using. The number drops to 27% for adults who try it for the first time.

Juvenile Justice Reform

• How Communities are Keeping Kids Out of Crime (CS Monitor)
  Seeing the charge of aggravated robbery involving a gun, a judge at the Lucas County, Ohio, juvenile court held him in pretrial detention for two weeks. Then she found out what weapon he had pulled: a BB gun. Over the next few weeks, while he remained locked up, she learned that Treyvon had a number of characteristics that took him out of the category of high risk for reoffending – a stable home life, his involvement in football and basketball, and a lack of gang involvement. So the judge let him live at home while on probation and take part in a local program that offers mentoring and other social services.

• Md. lawmakers consider housing for youth charged as adults (The Washington Post)
  After 10 years as chief of the St. Mary’s County Detention Center, Capt. Michael Merican is in a situation he says isn’t just difficult, it’s impossible. Merican pays close attention to the needs and well-being of 200 inmates, but one causes him constant worry: a terrified 17-year-old boy.

• White House-sponsored event at UMBC probes help for students in juvenile justice system (Baltimore Sun)
  "We've been doing this work now for decades as we've worked to support children who are first-time offenders," said UMBC President Freeman A. Hrabowski III, "and we believe the model has the potential to help children and families around the country."

• Transforming the Juvenile Justice System (The Take Away)
  Judge Denise Cubbon, the lead judge of the Lucas County Juvenile Court, in Toledo, Ohio, breaks that mold. Along with her Court Administrator, Deborah Hodges, Judge Cubbon has become a champion for change, for some of the country's most vulnerable offenders: Children.
  
• Unlocking the digital classroom for kids in lock up (Marketplace.org)
  Since July 2013, San Diego County Office of Education has spent nearly $900,000 on computers, printers and software for its secure juvenile facilities. Soon every one of the 200 kids here will have access to a Chromebook in class. All the teachers are being trained to run a digital classroom and add tech to the curriculum.
  

Jobs, Grants, Events and Webinars

• Please share the Reclaiming Futures Opportunity Board with your colleagues in the juvenile justice, adolescent substance abuse and teen mental health areas. It's free to browse and post!

Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment and Mental Health

• For addicted N.J. teens, filming their stories saved their lives (NJ.com)
  The "Boys of Bate" is a story of hope and transformation, and for the 18 New Jersey teenagers who made the movie, work on its filming and production helped them to face their addictions and save their lives.

• Mental health: Gaps remain in juvenile mental health care (Las Cruces Sun News)
  "Nationally, between 60 to 70 percent of kids in the juvenile justice system have a mental health disorder and roughly 90 percent have experienced at least one traumatic event," said Terri Williams, deputy secretary of the Kansas Department of Corrections in a news statement from July 28, 2014.
• All Kinds of Therapy New Website for Behavioral Health and Substance Abuse Treatment Launches Today (WKRG.com)
  All Kinds of Therapy is an innovative, user-friendly website that focuses on providing an interactive directory for residential treatment, wilderness therapy, therapeutic boarding schools, and addiction treatment for clients ranging in ages 10 - 30. Additionally, all residential interventions on the site have a wide variety of specializations including psychiatric assessments, anxiety, ADHD, autism spectrum disorders, severe learning disabilities, drug rehabilitation, failure to launch, adoption, or recovery.