Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment

Thank you to the community leaders and experts in juvenile justice reform, adolescent substance abuse treatment and mental health who contributed to a successful 2013 Leadership Institute in Asheville, N.C., May 7-9, 2013.
I'm pleased to share the presentations, plenary sessions and fellowship discussions that made up this working conference to help communities break the cycle of drugs, alcohol and crime.
Please take a moment to browse the topics and share the proven approaches and best practices for communities adopting, implementing and sustaining the Reclaiming Futures model as the standard of care in communities across the nation.
Here is a sample of the topics:

• Behavior Change Drivers by Michael Clark, Center for Strength-Based Strategies
• Rest Stop: Self-Care and Leadership Survival by Laura Nissen, Special Advisor, Reclaiming Futures National Program Office, Associate Professor, School of Social Work, Portland State University
• One Faith Community at a Time by Michael Dublin, Consultant, Faith Works Together Coordinator
• Global Appraisal of Individual Needs (GAIN): An Introduction & Opportunity to Ask Questions, Michael Dennis and Kate Moritz, Chestnut Health Systems
• How to Manage Yourself and Others Through the Stress of Change by Kathleen Doyle-White, Founder and President, Pathfinders Coaching

We'd like to hear from you. If you attended the Leadership Institute, what new skills, perspectives or strategies will you use? What insights will reinforce your efforts?
Please share ideas, photos and resources from the 2013 Reclaiming Futures Leadership Institute, using the following hashtag via Twitter: #RFutures13

In celebration of National Drug Court Month, Montgomery County Juvenile Court held a graduation ceremony celebrating youth who have successfully overcome drug and alcohol abuse.
National Drug Court Month is coordinated on a National level by the National Association of Drug Court Professionals (NADCP). This year, Drug Courts throughout the nation are celebrating National Drug Court Month with the theme ‘Drug Courts: Where Accountability Meets Compassion.’ This uplifting commencement ceremony is evidence of the tremendous impact the Montgomery County Juvenile Drug Court has had on our community and will send a powerful message that Drug Courts are a proven budget solution that saves lives and dollars.
Like the other 2,700 operational Drug Courts in the United States, the Montgomery County Juvenile Drug Court is a judicially-supervised court docket that reduces correctional costs, protects community safety, and improves public welfare. In Drug Court, seriously drug-addicted individuals remain in treatment while under close supervision. Drug Court participants must meet their obligation to themselves, their families, and society. To ensure accountability, they are regularly and randomly tested for drug use, required to appear frequently in court for the judge to review their progress, rewarded for doing well and sanctioned for not living up to their obligations. Research continues to show that Drug Courts work better than jail or prison, better than probation, and better than treatment alone.
Fifteen young men and women were among this year’s graduates. The ceremony marked their completion of an intensive program of comprehensive drug treatment, case management, mandatory drug testing, community supervision and incentives and sanctions to encourage appropriate behavior.

Juvenile Justice Reform

• For Juvenile Detainees, 'Supper Club' Brings Stable Connection (The Baltimore Sun)
  The one-year-old Supper Club program is designed around a time-tested principle — that sharing regular meals with caring grown-ups provides young people with a sense of stability and connection. It's an experience that teens inside these walls may be only passingly familiar with.
• [OPINION] Juvenile Justice System Broken, Needs Oversight (JournalStandard.com)
  "No child should ever be subject to mistreatment, and this report will hopefully incentivize our policymakers to ensure that incarceration is truly the last resort, used only for the safety of the child and the public."
• Forum Focuses on Juvenile Justice (RegisterStar.com)
  For the second straight month, the Time and Space Limited theater in Hudson hosted a meeting on juvenile justice in conjunction with the newly formed Staley B. Keith Social Justice Center. At Wednesday’s event, TSL co-Director Linda Mussman welcomed moderator and sociologist Richard Smith, and a panel of local legal experts to discuss issues facing Hudson youth in the juvenile justice system.
• OP-ED: Families: Solutions to the Crisis in Juvenile Justice (JJIE.org)
  "In 2006, the mother of a teenage daughter involved in the juvenile justice system in Hawaii contacted a small, non-profit in Lake Charles, La., more than 4,000 miles away. The mother was seeking support from someone who could understand her plight in navigating the juvenile justice system and possibly help her find the treatment and services her daughter desperately needed."

Project Director Margaret Soukup, Reclaiming Futures Seattle-King County, discusses how the Reclaiming Futures model has improved their work with young people in King County. Since implementing Reclaiming Futures 10 years ago, they have become more:

• Collaborative,
• Supportive, and
• Inclusive 

To learn more about helping teens overcome drugs, alcohol and crime, please visit www.reclaimingfutures.org

Juvenile Justice Reform

• Efforts Sought to Rehabilitate Troubled Youth (Tribune-Democrat.com)
  While there have been drastic changes in the juvenile justice system in the wake of the “Kids for Cash” scandal, some advocates believe Pennsylvania has so far failed to widely embrace efforts to fully focus on rehabilitating troubled young people. One of the more innovative efforts in Pennsylvania involves the use of youth courts, in which young people themselves mete out justice for their peers.
• Bad Food, a Bible, and a Blanket: 24 Hours in Juvenile Solitary Confinement (Wired.com)
  As a photographer, how far would you go to get in the heads of your subjects? For Richard Ross, it meant 24 hours in solitary confinement at a juvenile detention center. Over six years, Ross has photographed hundreds of detention centers and interviewed more than a 1,000 children for a project called Juvenile-in-Justice that aims to educate people about the juvenile justice system. He’s as familiar as any outsider with the subject, but he decided it wasn’t enough.
• Past Traumatic Experiences Common Among Detained Juveniles (JJIE.org)
  Most young people placed in detention have experienced at least one traumatic event in their lifetime, according to a new report from the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). “PTSD, Trauma and Comorbid Psychiatric Disorders in Detained Youth,” released Tuesday, included findings culled from the Northwestern Juvenile Project, which assessed more than 1,800 young detainees in Chicago between 1995 and 1998.
• Nebraska Gov. Heineman Signs Juvenile Justice Reform Bill, Focusing on Youth Rehabilitation (TheRepublic.com)
  Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman has signed a juvenile justice reform bill into law. The measure by Sen. Brad Ashford, of Omaha, is designed to shift the state's focus toward rehabilitation for youths who break the law. Heineman approved the legislation on Wednesday during a news conference.
• Gov. Heineman Signs Juvenile Justice Reform into Law (Omaha.com)
  The state embarked on a new approach in dealing with troubled juveniles Wednesday. Gov. Dave Heineman signed into law a major reform bill that shifts the focus from incarceration to treatment for youthful offenders and puts state probation officers in charge of that rehabilitation work instead of state social workers.

Tom Begich, coach and former project director in Anchorage Alaska, describes how Reclaiming Futures has transcended anything they ever imagined to create a safer, healthier community. 

• Crime and substance abuse rates are down
• Graduation rates are up 
• Evidence-based practices are driving change

It would be almost impossible to miss the hundreds of “Above the Influence” signs decorating bus stations and lobbies. But why do they matter? They matter because thousands of teens are standing up against the pressures of alcohol, stress, drugs, pop culture, peer pressure and bullying.
Above the Influence is a campaign run by the Office of National Drug Control Policy inspired by real life stories from teens about how they face the influences that shape their decisions. Their mission is to help teens take a stand against negative pressures and influences that impact the way we live. By learning about what influences are around us, we are better equipped to say no to pressures including drugs, pills and alcohol.
What does living above the influence mean to you? Share your experiences and what you’ve observed in your community with us.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Juvenile Justice Reform

• [AUDIO] Juvenile Justice System Overhaul Signed into Law (NebraskaRadioNetwork.com)
  Nebraska will shift how it treats juvenile offenders under a bill signed into law by the governor. Gov. Dave Heineman has signed LB 561e, juvenile justice reform approved by the legislature. Heineman, during a news conference in his Capitol office, called the bill complex. Still, he has hopes for a simple outcome.
• Dramatic Reform of Juvenile Justice Takes Shape in Legislature (NorthPlatteBulletin.com)
  Juvenile criminals would be rehabilitated at home, with help from probation officers, under a bill advancing in the state Legislature.
  Lawmakers advanced LB 651, aiming to overhaul Nebraska’s juvenile justice system. The bill would transfer responsibility for the state’s roughly 3,000 juvenile offenders from the Department of Health and Human Services to the Office of Probation Administration.
• Nebraska Governor Vetoes $200K in Golf Tournament Funding (SFGate.com)
  Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman used a line-item veto Tuesday to strike $200,000 from a budget bill that was approved to promote the U.S. Senior Open golf tournament in Omaha. The Republican governor said the budget item was unjustified, given the state's other spending priorities on education and reforms to the state's juvenile justice services.
• Justice Reform Paying Off Sooner than Expected (Ledger-Enquirer.com)
  When Gov. Nathan Deal prompted the Georgia General Assembly to undertake sentencing reform for the adult criminal justice system (to be followed the next year by juvenile justice reform), he acknowledged that he didn't expect to see any substantial changes for a few years. In terms of the state prison population, that's certainly the case so far. In fact, the state inmate count actually rose slightly from the end of 2010 through last year.
• Massachusetts House Votes to Move 17-Year-Olds into Juvenile Justice System (WickedLocal.com)
  The House unanimously passed legislation Wednesday that would move 17-year-old offenders into the juvenile justice system in Massachusetts, ending the practice of routinely incarcerating 17-year-olds in adult corrections facilities.

Thank you to Sadric Bonner, Great Expectations certified family partner, who talks about how Reclaiming Futures supports her work.
Ms. Bonner has contributed on reclaimingfutures.org as a parent in One Parent's Experience with the Juvenile Justice System, and as a social service partner in Youth Mentoring Has Lifelong Benefits -- for the Mentor, Too.

Due to the number of pregnant teens seeking substance abuse treatment admission, SAMHSA established a Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS) to illuminate the variances between pregnant teenagers and other female teens admitted. Nearly 57,000 female teens were admitted to substance abuse treatment between 2007 and 2010. 2,200 of the teens admitted were pregnant. The report details both treatment and prevention programs.
Analysts found that more than half of the pregnant teens reported drug or alcohol use in the month before treatment initiation. One fifth of the women indicated daily use, with marijuana and alcohol listed as the most commonly used substances regardless of pregnancy status.
Teenage pregnancy alone poses a much higher peril for health risks than adult pregnancy. When addiction is mixed in, the chances for pregnancy-related complications, premature delivery and delivering babies with developmental problems increases dramatically.