Module 2: Screening and Assessment

2C. Mental Health, Substance Abuse, and Juvenile Justice Collaboration

Addressing a youth’s mental illness and/or substance abuse problems collaboratively with juvenile justice will aid treatment and management. It is imperative that staff from all three systems–mental health, substance abuse, and juvenile justice–become comfortable with identifying the symptoms of these disorders and participating collaboratively in the assessment process.

Historically, professionals in the mental health, substance abuse, and juvenile justice settings have operated independently in their screening and assessment of offenders with co-occurring disorders. In many settings, mental health, substance abuse, and juvenile justice staff acquire the information they need individually but communicate very little about overlapping information or integrated service goals.

Coordinated information gathering can pay off in several ways, namely:

• More efficient interviews and screenings
• Less conflict between the systems because information is shared
• Increased attention to each specialty
• Less duplication of questions

Redundant questions can be an obstacle to establishing positive relationships and are a misuse of staff time and resources. Youth can become frustrated if the mental health, substance abuse, and criminal justice staff all ask the same questions separately and seem unaware of what the other knows. Screening and assessment are gateways to treatment. The way the youth responds to treatment may well be affected by how he or she initially encounters the system during screening and assessment. Collaboration among the three systems must start here.

Because many youth are in contact with the juvenile justice system for brief periods (e.g., released after arrest, held in detention for short time), and extensive psychological evaluations of all youth entering the system are not cost-efficient, screening and assessment for mental health and substance abuse should be:

• Time-efficient
• Cost-efficient
• Thorough to identify youth with mental health and substance abuse disorders
• Productive to provide practical information for the development of an intervention plan

Think About What information do you collect that the other disciplines should know so that they have a well-rounded assessment of a juvenile offender? What information do you need from other disciplines to more effectively do your part in the treatment, supervision, or management of a juvenile offender?