Blog: No bio box

Blue skies, a beautiful park and live music set the stage for the 3rd Annual Community Awareness Fair we hosted on Saturday, June 27, 2009. The Juvenile Office in Greene County, Missouri organizes this event to connect youth and families with local resources. The fair also allows us to expand beyond the walls of the courtroom and detention center, and into the community.

Can puppets keep kids out of the juvenile justice system? Surprisingly, the answer is "yes."
Because “early onset aggression in children as young as age 3 is the single most-important predictor of later delinquency, substance abuse and violence," Professor Carolyn Webster-Stratton at the University of Washington developed the curriculum, "The Incredible Years," part of which involves using puppets to communicate with young, at-risk children.

When it comes to treating adolescent substance abuse, providing culturally-appropriate care is critical -- though easier said than done.
Here's two culturally-specific resources that might prove useful: 

The Addiction Technology Transfer Center (ATTC) Network has an amazing number of resources available to help treatment professionals and agencies.
For example, I just found a very interesting set of videos designed to recruit people to work in the field of addictions treatment on the ATTC Network's Facebook page. (For some reason, I had better luck viewing the videos when I used Internet Explorer as my browser, rather than Firefox.)

It's remarkable how suddenly the debate over marijuana legalization has moved from the fringes to mainstream.
Decriminalizing possession of small amounts of pot (but not its cultivation and sale) has been implemented in Massachusetts, and is being considered in Chicago, Rhode Island, and other communities.

When I think about the many people and organizations who support juvenile justice reform, I confess I don't usually think of doctors as being among them. Not because doctors would have any reason to oppose it; it's just that I haven't run across them in advocacy circles. 

People who are truly chemically dependent and drug addicted often require treatment to change their behavior, but not all offenders (especially juvenile offenders) are truly drug dependent. We need effective ways to help them change their behavor too. 
What if youthful offenders were guaranteed to receive a short, mild sanction with each and every violation of their court-ordered probation? Such a program would be far cheaper than drug treatment, but would it change behavior? 

[Steve Pasierb is President and CEO of the Partnership for a Drug-Free America. This is Part 2 of a 2-part post; find Part 1 of Using Media to Connect People with Help for Addiction here. -Ed.]

 
Lesson 6: A comprehensive intervention Web site is an essential tool.
Treatment messages must include a "call to action" to a phone line and, importantly, a web resource to learn more about options for help. It was found that a dedicated Web site was an essential resource for the public on addiction issues, and that media can effectively promote this resource, generating strong traffic and lengthening visit time.

[Steve Pasierb is President and CEO of the Partnership for a Drug-Free America. This is Part 1 of a 2-part post. -Ed.]
A research-based communications exploratory by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) produced a set of 10 “lessons learned” that can be applicable to all working to communicate with the public on addiction treatment. It also became the foundation of the Partnership’s ongoing collaboration with the Treatment Research Institute (TRI), which has produced a range of innovative, useful new intervention tools like Time To Act.
 
Lesson 1: Public attitudes are indeed barriers to help-seeking.
Our work with RWJF identified three public attitudes that must be counteracted: