Blog: No bio box

Here's the problem with adolescent substance abuse treatment: young people who are using want nothing to do with it.
How can you help? You can help their family members get them into treatment.  
Sound simple? We all know it's anything but. So here's your chance to learn a clincally-backed protocol for helping families of youth (and adults) with serious drug and alcohol issues. According to studies done so far, family members who participate the Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) get between 64% and 86% of their loved ones into treatment -- and they're more likely to stay engaged once they get there. 
Now's your chance to learn CRAFT:
Chestnut Health Systems is hosting a CRAFT training session with its creator, Dr. Robert J. Meyers (who was also involved in creation of the Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach, which is aimed at teens). He'll be leading the CRAFT training September 19-21, 2011, at Chestnut Health Systems in Bloomington-Normal, IL; registration instructions are here.  Questions? Email Kelli Wright at Chestnut. 

UPDATE August 1, 2011 - The training scheduled for September 2011 has been cancelled. 

In a recent column, I compared the costs of trying teens in the juvenile justice system and trying them as adults. Some argue that trying youth in adult criminal court is cheaper than trying them in juvenile court, and I pointed to research showing that while trying kids in juvenile court may cost more money upfront, the rehabilitative approach saves money in the long run.
One of the reasons it can cost a lot to try youth in juvenile or adult court is the need to detain some teens while their cases are resolved. And there's no question that the cost of juvenile pretrial detention is enormous. This is true whether “costs” are seen in the effects on individuals and communities, or in more cynical terms of dollars and cents.
However, both of these costs go up when kids are placed in detention at adult facilities.  
Pretrial detention in an adult facility is extremely perilous to youth. Compared to their counterparts in juvenile detention, kids held in adult facilities are 36% more likely to commit suicide. And, although youth under 18 make up less than 1% of the total population in adult facilities, they comprise 21% of the victims of inmate perpetrated sexual assault. The longer youth stay in adult facilities, the greater these risks become.

Want to review grant applications submitted to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)? Now could be your moment.
From an OJJDP press release (hat tip to JUVJUST): 

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) invites researchers and practitioners with expertise related to juvenile justice to apply to serve as peer reviewers for its competitive grant applications. Applicants should indicate their juvenile justice-related knowledge and experience, including: gangs, mentoring, girls’ delinquency, children’s exposure to violence, substance abuse, tribal juvenile justice, Internet crimes against children, and more.
To apply, e-mail a current résumé or curriculum vitae to OJJDPConsultantPool@usdoj.gov. Write “Peer Reviewer Candidate” in the subject line. OJJDP will compensate peer reviewers for their time and effort.

Resources:
To apply, send a résumé or curriculum vitae to OJJDPConsultantPool@usdoj.gov. Write “Peer Reviewer Candidate” in the subject line.
>>Information on OJJDP funding opportunities and awards.

 
Hat tip to Robert Ackley. 

• White House May Rethink its Juvenile Justice Spending Plan
  In mid-February, Youth Today reported that President Obama's budget contained a proposal to radically change federal juvenile justice funding for the states. Now, Youth Today's John Kelly reports that it may be reconsidering, after strongly negative reactions from juvenile justice advocates.
• VIDEO: Mississippi County Sued After Video Reveals "Hogtied" Youth and Other Abuse
  The Southern Poverty Law Center has sued Forrest County, Missisissippi, over revelations of numerous instances of juvenile detention center personnel physically abusing youth in their care (many documented on surveillance video cameras) and force them to allow youth access to lawyers and civil rights advocates, in accord with federal law. Follow the link to see the video coverage. (Hat tip to sparkaction.)

In low-income communities already reeling with double-digit unemployment, news that your state plans to trim several million dollars from juvenile corrections might not cause much outcry except for the loss of jobs. But consider the implications.
With states from Florida to California closing youth prisons, thousands of young people needing jobs, education services or drug treatment will be coming home. Yet little of the savings will go into funding such programs. Instead, youth advocates across the country fear that teens-in-trouble will be essentially cut adrift. This could add new pressures to already-stressed communities and leave many to balance public safety against the needs of young offenders and their families. 
Certainly, the $5.7 billion spent each year to lock up some 90,000 kids could be better spent. Recidivism rates are miserable – in many cases, worse than adult corrections – despite costs that can top $200-a-day for each incarcerated youth. What works with most court-involved teens, experts say, is a combination of family therapy, drug or mental health treatment, and employment. None of those things, however, are on the books.

In December, I met with Sarah Bryer, Executive Director of the National Juvenile Justice Network (NJJN), and asked her what it was planning for the coming months. You can see her answer in the video above -- tools for local sites to help them push juvenile justice reform during the fiscal downturn. 
 
Now, the NJJN is about to launch a new Fiscal Policy Center. Here's what they say about it: 

I've written several times about the excellent work done by Dr. Mark Lipsey, his colleagues, and the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform (CJJR) at Georgetown to help local jurisdictions do a better job of providing evidence-backed services in their juvenile justice systems. Here's your chance to benefit. 
Background
Dr. Lipsey's research team drew on almost 50 years' worth of studies on what works in juvenile justice to develop principles of effective programming.
Then they partnered with Georgetown's Center for Juvenile Justice Reform (CJJR), led by Shay Bilchik, to create the Juvenile Justice System Improvement Project (JJSIP), which -- according to the official announcement from CJJR -- "embeds [those principles] within the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders as developed by Dr. James C. Howell and John Wilson. In doing so, the JJSIP provides a framework for improving juvenile justice practice throughout the entire juvenile justice continuum."
Your State Can Benefit
Three states will be chosen to participate in an intensive training, followed by 18 months of technical assistance to implement this approach.

The Addiction Technology Transfer Center (ATTC) Network announced a webinar hosted by the Mid-America ATTC. It's not youth-specific, but may be of interest to adolescent substance abuse treatement providers:
Psychotherapeutic Medications 2011: Announcing a New Online Resource for Counselors, Clients and Their Families
Hosted by: Mid-America ATTC
March 17, 2011
2:00 - 3:30 p.m. (EASTERN)
Psychotherapeutic Medications 2011: What Every Counselor Should Know, 8th Edition, was originally developed in 1999 as a companion piece to a Mid-America ATTC curriculum, A Collaborative Response: Addressing the Needs of Consumers with Co-Occurring Substance Use and Mental Health Disorders. Due to popular demand, the publication has become a desk-top reference for counselors across the United States and is now available in an online, searchable database!
Alex Barajas-Muñoz, M.S., Editor of Psychotherapeutic Medications 2011, along with Pat Stilen, LCSW, Director of Mid-America ATTC, will guide participants through a tour of the free, downloadable booklet and announce the just released, web-based online database resource.
Specific topics of discussion for this session include:

• How to access information about psychotherapeutic substance use disorder treatment medications with a list of their generic and brand names;
• Medication purpose, usual dose, frequency and side effects, emergency conditions, cautions and special considerations for pregnant women;
• Tips for communicating with physicians about clients’ medications
• Tips for communicating with clients about taking prescribed medications.

>>Register here.

• Is the Juvenile Justice System "Improving Lives or Devastating Them?" U.S. Attorney General Asks
  Attorney General Eric Holder wants to see the juvenile justice system shift from prosecution and punishment to prevention and intervention, as he made clear in a March 7th speech to the National Association of Counties Legislative Conference. Among other things, he pointed to the evidence showing that "scared straight programs" are ineffective, and the high rate of sexual victimization of detained youth. 
   
• States Try Fewer Youth in Adult Court  
  Only a few states -- New York and North Carolina among them -- continue to treat 16-year-olds as adults when it comes to the justice system. Money's an issue, because it's more expensive to try them in the juvenile justice system. However, a new analysis from the Vera Institute of Justice finds that the fiscal benefits outweigh the costs.
• States Back Away From Punitive Drug Laws
  The high cost of imprisoning low-level drug offenders is adding momentum to efforts to reform punitive drug laws that incarcerate people without addressing their underlying treatment problem.