Seattle University Collaborative Projects - International Academy of ...

Civil Citation program in Hillsborough County, Florida. The first two clinical trials spin offactivities at the Hillsborough County, Juvenile Assessment Center (JAC), a centralized intakefacility receiving and processing arrested youth (itself an innovative development), which hasbeen in operation since 1993. I plan to provide a brief history of the JAC, then review theimplementation and outcome assessments of the just-noted services. Collectively, they holdmuch promise for creatively reframing the way in which the juvenile justice system operates.Stronger Families: Engaging and Retaining Youth Involved in the JusticeSystem and their Families in the Mental Health/Substance Abuse Interventionand Treatment ServicesNancy Hamilton, Operation PAR, Inc., Pinellas Park, USA (nhamilton@operpar.org)Operation PAR’s 42 years of providing a continuum of comprehensive mental health andsubstance abuse services from engagement and assessment through intervention and treatmenthas underscored the need to address adolescent substance use and abuse issues. The use ofevidence based assessment and services increases engagement rates of youth and their familiesinto the continuum of prevention, intervention and treatment services. This presentation willpresent an overview of the use of the valid and reliable Global Appraisal of Individual Needs(GAIN) to screen and assess youth involved in alcohol and substance abuse including thoseyouth involved in delinquency who are brought by law enforcement to the Juvenile AssessmentCenter. Participants will receive an overview of the process used to train and certify staff inMotivational Interviewing and other evidence based practices. These trained professionals areskilled at engaging youth and their families into the treatment process. The use of manualizedtherapies and evidence based curricula such as Motivational Enhancement, Cognitive BehavioralTherapy and Seeking Safety, a trauma curriculum, improves outcomes, increases retention andimproves the satisfaction of the youth and families served. An overview of the evidence basedpractices used will allow participants to relate specific aims of these practices with the positiveoutcomes achieved by youth and their families.How Florida Is Preventing Youth from Sinking Deeper into the Juvenile JusticeSystemWansley Walters, Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, Tallahassee, USA(Wansley.Walters@djj.state.fl.us)Secretary Walters is responsible for a state agency of 3,200 employees serving youth andcommunities throughout Florida. She is leading comprehensive reform at DJJ to make it thenational role model for juvenile justice administration. Under her leadership, DJJ is investingmore resources in the front end of the juvenile justice system to ensure that youth receive the198