Conscience Building Better Bridges Between Juvenile Justice and Mental Health – A Guided Discussion Community Collaboration

The Core Question Most youth in the juvenile justice system have significant behavioral health needs – most of which are undiagnosed and untreated. In one study diagnosing and treating young offender’s mental health needs reduced placement by 36%. Why then has it been so hard for us to build and sustain bridges between mental health and juvenile justice? 2Conscience, Collaboration and Community

Workshop Format Three topics Small group discussion Share results and questions Move to the next topic Generate shared insights Propose possible next steps 3Conscience, Collaboration and Community

Setting Up the Groups This will work best if we divide up into groups of 5 to 7 people who have differing backgrounds Think about where you’re from, what you do, etc. Divide yourselves up and lets get ready to resolve this quandary 4Conscience, Collaboration and Community

First Topic When have you seen collaboration between mental health and juvenile justice been successful? Provide examples of effective collaboration involving both individual youth and their families, and ongoing intersystem partnerships Extract common elements of success: – Factors that support collaboration in individual situations – Factors that support collaboration in inter-system situations 5Conscience, Collaboration and Community

Discussion Notes Examples of Effective CollaborationCommon Elements Around an individual youth and family Between systems 6Conscience, Collaboration and Community

Second Topic From your experience, what are the biggest system or service needs that have to be addressed to improve the level of collaboration between mental health and juvenile justice in the place where you live or work? Provide concrete examples of how this unmet system or service need impacts the outcomes being achieved by youth and their families List all the needs suggested by your group members, then prioritize them Pick the top five needs your group believes should be addressed and be ready to explain why you chose them 7Conscience, Collaboration and Community

Discussion Notes System need that impedes effective collaboration How it affects youth and family outcomes Why your group prioritized this need 8Conscience, Collaboration and Community

Third Topic Pick one of the top five needs that we have prioritized in the large group setting Brainstorm at least 20 different ways that a community or a state as a whole could go about addressing this need Looking at the list of individual and system system strengths that we generated in the first topic, select an option that your group thinks might just work. How would you operationalize the solution you have chosen? 9Conscience, Collaboration and Community

Discussion Notes, Part One Twenty Ways to Address the Need Standing in the Way of Improved Collaboration 10Conscience, Collaboration and Community

Discussion Notes, Part Two Solution to improve collaboration based on existing strengths: What would it take to make it happen? Who would put the solution into action? How would they get it done? How would the solution impact youth and family outcomes? 11Conscience, Collaboration and Community