Improve Diversion for Youth with Behavioral Health Disorders

Will yours be one of five states selected to receive expert technical assistance to help young people? You won't know if you don't apply.
Applications are being accepted for Improving Diversion Policies and Programs for Justice-Involved Youth with Behavioral Health Disorders: An Integrated Policy Academy-Action Network Initiative, made possible with support from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
Selected states will convene core teams of senior-level officials at the state and local levels to implement a school-based or probation-intake diversion program for youth with behavioral health disorders. This work will emphasize:

• Decreasing the unnecessary involvement of youth with behavioral health problems in the justice system
• Using research-based screening and assessment practices
• Recognizing the important role of evidence-based and trauma-informed practice and treatment
• Increasing collaboration among stakeholders to facilitate access to community treatment and services
• Reducing the overrepresentation of youth of color in the juvenile justice system

The full announcement and application materials are available for download at www.ncmhjj.com. Applications will be accepted through Friday, February 28, 2014. 

This initiative is made possible with support from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
Susan Richardson is national executive director for Reclaiming Futures. Formerly, she was a senior program officer in the health care division of the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust in North Carolina, where she led a three-year effort involving the state's juvenile justice and treatment leaders to adopt the Reclaiming Futures model by juvenile courts in six North Carolina counties. She received her B.S. in Public Health, Health Policy and Administration, from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.