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Mental Health Needs Of Youth In The Juvenile Justice System
Programs and Initiatives:
Multisystemic Therapy (MST)
The intensive family-and-community based treatment has effectively reduced recidivism, lowered out-of-home placements, improved family functioning, and decreased mental health problems for serious juvenile offenders.
For information contact:
Scott Henggeler
Wraparound Milwaukee
The program takes an integrated, multiservice approach to meeting the needs of youth and their families. The many components to Wraparound, including individualized service plans, family involvement in the treatment process, and needs-based service planning and delivery, have been effective in working with children in the juvenile justice and child welfare systems.
For more information contact:
Bruce Kamradt
INITIATIVES:
The National Mental Health Association’s Justice for Juveniles Program
The National Mental Health Association launched its Justice for Juveniles Program in 1998 to
highlight the critical unmet needs of the hundreds of thousands of young people with mental health and substance abuse problems caught up in America’s juvenile justice system. Most states and communities have failed to adequately invest in services for children and families that can prevent arrest and incarceration. Many also fail to systematically identify and treat the mental health and substance abuse problems of children who enter their juvenile justice systems.
NMHA is committed to helping states and communities develop policies and services for vulnerable young people, rather than punishing them. By raising public awareness of this issue and working with our nationwide network of affiliate chapters, NMHA plans to build the capacity of states and communities to better respond to these youth and their families.
For more information contact:
Stacey Shapiro
Mental Health Services in Juvenile Justice Facilities: A National Survey
The Center for Mental Health Services is conducting a nationwide study to learn more about the mental health services juvenile offenders are receiving. This project is being conducted by the National Juvenile Detention Association, National Association of Juvenile Correctional Agencies, American Correctional Association, and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
For more information contact:
Ingrid Goldstrum