Free Technical Assistance for Treatment Providers from NIATx's ACTION II Campaign
What is NIATX?
NIATx helps behavioral health providers improve access to and retention in treatment for all of their clients. It's a process improvement collaborative based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. (The acronym stands for The Network for the Improvement of Addiction Treatment. However, since NIATx has moved into mental health other areas of behavioral health, we now go by the acronym only.)
Roundup: Update on the JJDPA; Treatment Agencies Improve Services & Bottom Line; Two Innovative Crime-Reduction Practices; and More
Juvenile Justice Reform News
- The Coalition for Juvenile Justice has an update on the Congressional reauthorization of the federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA), one of the key engines of juvenile justice reform. (Thanks to the Coalition for Juvenile Justice for sharing its slide deck.)
- Big news from Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, in the juvenile "kids for cash" case. The state Supreme Court overturned thousands of juvenile adjudications made by former Judge Mark A. Ciavarella, Jr., because he consistently failed to inform juveniles of their right to representation. Only the cases of youth still under court supervision would be eligible for retrial. (Hat tip to Youth Today.)
CSG Justice Center Launches National Reentry Resource Center
On October 1, 2009,the Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center launched the National Reentry Resource Center—an unprecedented initiative to advance the safe and successful return of individuals from correctional facilities to their communities.
Teens in Trouble Can Now Txt 4 Help
Kids on the run or in crisis now have another way to keep themselves safe: their cell phones.
Beginning October 15th, a nationwide system, "Txt 4 Help," has been set up by National Safe Place so that teens on the run or in crisis can use text messages to find a safe place to go, or get connected with a national hotline.
America's Promise Alliance has the details: "Youth in crisis can text the word SAFE and their current location to the number 69866, and they will receive an address for the closest Safe Place site and contact number for the local youth shelter."
(Hat tip to Portland Prevention.)
Juvenile Justice and Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment Funding: Trainings Galore!
Seems to be the season for training folks in the juvenile justice system:
- The National Partnership for Juvenile Services is hosting a national symposium on juvenile services entitled "Representing America’s Youth:
Transforming the Field of Juvenile Services," in Indiananopolis, October 11-14. Agenda topics include:- Juvenile Detention & Corrections
- Education of Youth in Confinement
- Community-Based & Residential Care
- Presentation Skills & Training Techniques
- Critical Issues
The Juvenile Justice System: Which Risk Assessments are Right for Girls?
Curious about whether the risk assessments used in the juvenile justice system are appropriate for girls? Wonder if the one used in your jurisdiction measures up?
The Girls Study Group, set up by The Office of Juvenile Delinquency and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), recently examined 143 juvenile risk assessment instruments with those very questions in mind, and compiled their results in an online database.
This is timely, given that a recent study by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency indicated that risk assessments have gotten less effective in recent years, and an article in a journal last year that argued that juvenile risk assessments lagged behind research on how best to use them. (Photo by Thuy Pham.)
Juvenile Justice: Updated National Youth Gang Survey
Curious about the presence, extent, or characteristics of local youth gang problems?
No worries - the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has your back. An updated version of OJJDP's National Youth Gang Survey (NYGS) is now available on the web site of the Institute for Intergovernmental Research. Available data include annual numbers of gangs and gang members from 1996 through 2007, the change in the number of gang-problem jurisdictions from 2002 to 2007, and gang member demographics.
Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment: A Toolkit for Change
Anyone working on a Reclaiming Futures initiative -- or for that matter, anyone working to improve alcohol and drug treatment services, even if not for teens in the juvenile justice system -- will benefit from a new provider toolkit from the Network for the Improvement of Addiction Treatment (NIATx).
Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment - Implementing EBPs
Want help implementing evidence-based practices in your adolescent substance abuse treatment system?
1. Check out The Change Book (available free from the ATTC); and
2. Get a copy of Implementing Change in Substance Abuse Treatment Programs, a new free publication from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment Providers - Free Technical Assistance
This is huge. If you represent an adolescent substance abuse treatment provider, then you should run, not walk, over to the NIATx ACTION Campaign II site to take part in a free 18-month initiative to help you reduce costs, improve services, and increase revenue.
