Behavioral Health Treatment for Juveniles: Transitioning Youth from Out-of-Home Placement to the Community

Hosted by the National Reentry Resource Center and the Criminal Justice/Mental Health Consensus Project

In order to provide effective behavioral health treatment to youth involved in the juvenile justice system, juvenile justice authorities and their partners must be equipped to identify behavioral health treatment needs quickly, make referrals to appropriate services, and provide treatment and other necessary supports while in custody and as part of reentry. Research on best practices in behavioral health treatment for youth supports the development of a continuum-of-care model based on the following principles:

• Rapid and reliable identification of youths’ treatment and support needs;
• Knowledge of the current effective and promising treatment interventions;
• Understanding the fundamental elements of any effective treatment intervention for youth;
• Developing a network of community agencies that provide effective treatment interventions;
• Understanding how outcomes and relative cost-effectiveness should drive utilization decisions;
• Ensuring that continuing care and recovery support are available and tailored to youth;
• Providing supportive services that resonate with youth.

In May 2012 the National Reentry Resource Center hosted a webinar that focused on identifying behavioral health needs and on the delivery of treatment while in placement (available here). This webinar focused on the transition from placement to community and on how community supervision and treatment providers can best support youth with behavioral health needs following release from out-of-home placement.

To download a PDF of the PowerPoint presentation used during this webinar, click here. To watch a recording of the webinar, click on the image below.