Program Description

The Illinois Mental Health Juvenile Justice Initiative, Illinois

Overview

The Mental Health Juvenile Justice Initiative was created by the Illinois Department of Human Services (DHS) in March of 2000 to identify youth in detention centers with severe mental illness. The creation of this initiative was prompted, in large measure, by data being reported from Dr. Linda Teplin’s study of juvenile detainees in the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center that indicated that large numbers of youth in the detention center had serious mental illness often co-occurring with substance abuse disorders (Teplin et al, 2002). To address this, the Illinois DHS provided $2 million in funding for the MHJJ initiative for youth with severe mental illness exiting juvenile detention in seven sites in Illinois (Griffin & Quintenz, 15th annual conference proceedings-FMHI). In 2001, MHJJ was expanded to all counties with detention centers in the state. This funding is used to support mental health juvenile justice service liaisons who work with detention centers, juvenile courts, and others to coordinate community-based services for youth in detention who have a major affective disorder or a psychotic disorder. Youth with disruptive behavior disorders are excluded unless these disorders co-occur with a psychotic or affective disorder. As a result of the eligibility criteria, the program targets youth with the most serious disorders who are in juvenile detention.

Funds are provided to the local community mental health agency to pay for the services of a system liaison who works to link youth with local services and care. Once a youth is referred to MHJJ, the liaison uses the Childhood Severity of Psychiatric Illness (CSPI) to determine program eligibility for youth in the detention centers. For youth found to have severe mental illness, the liaison uses the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths-Mental Health Scale (CANS-MH) to develop a care plan with the youth and their family. The CANS-MH is a service planning tool that also allows for assessing outcomes. The plan specifies which services the youth needs across a broad range of domains and identifies where these services are available in the community. The service plan is based on the wraparound model—individualized services that address the youth’s needs and strengths (Psychiatric Services, 2003). Once the plan is in place, the liaison uses “flexible funds” to pay for needed services that are required but otherwise not accessible.

The plan is then presented to the court. The liaison informs the court that a youth with severe mental illness has been identified in the detention center with specific needs that can be treated in the community. The judge can then release the youth to the community, and the liaison assists the family by linking them to services for a period of 6 months, although services to which a youth is linked would be expected to continue beyond the liaison’s involvement (Psychiatric Services, 2003).

An evaluation of youth participating in the MHJJ initiative in the initial seven sites found:

• Youth in detention with severe mental illness can be successfully identified and referred for community-based services;
• Youth participating in the MHJJ experienced decreased re-arrest rates; increased school attendance and high rates of parental participation;
• The emotional problems of youth enrolled in the MHJJ initiative decreased considerably within 3 months of their referral;
• Improvement occurred across all symptom areas,  including psychosis, attachment and family functioning.

References

Lyons, J., Griffin, G., Quintenz, S., Jenuwine, M., & Shasha, M. (2003). Clinical and forensic outcomes from the Illinois Mental Health Juvenile Justice Initiative. Psychiatric Services, 54, 1629-1634.

Teplin, et al. (2002). Psychiatric disorders in youth in juvenile detention. Arch Gen Psychiatry, 59, 1133-1143.

Program Contact

Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission
Department of Human Services
100 South Grand Avenue, E
Springfield, IL 62762
Phone: 800-843-6154