| CSSD Chronicle | ||
| A regular publication of information and news about Court Support Services Division |
| CSSD Chronicle | ||
| A regular publication of information and news about Court Support Services Division |
| Please share this with a colleague! Wednesday June 8, 2005 Please share this with a colleague! |
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A great deal of research has been focused on the role of trauma and its impact on young people. Now, as a result of work done by CSSD staff including New Haven Detention Center Supervisor Karl Alston, New Haven Detention CPO Allen London, Hartford Detention CPO Shannon Etheridge and Dr. John Chapman, Clinical Services Program Manager, CSSD is prepared to develop cutting edge trauma interventions for children in the juvenile justice system. CSSD Executive Director Bill Carbone has strongly endorsed these efforts noting that “Trauma is a major factor in the lives of juveniles under our care. Research shows that it contributes to delinquent and disruptive behaviors that often lead to contact with the juvenile justice system. By providing the means to identify and refer to interventions early on, we anticipate that more can be done to address trauma and its affects and help these juveniles avoid future involvement.”
Background: The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NTCSN), a national group of trauma experts, clinicians and researchers, issued a series of reports in 2004 showing that among adolescents aged 12 to 17, 13% of girls and 3.4% of boys report having been sexually assaulted at some point in their lives. Twenty-one percent of boys and 13.4% of girls report a physical assault at some time in their lives, and 43.6% of boys and 35% of girls report having witnessed violence.
How Trauma Relates to Delinquency and Criminal Behavior: While theories disagree as to exactly how trauma relates to later delinquency, many researchers note the relationship. Forty-seven percent of sexually assaulted boys reported engaging in delinquent acts, compared to only 16% who were not sexually assaulted. According to NTCSN, the rate of girls who had been sexually assaulted and then committed delinquent acts was five times higher than girls who had not been sexually assaulted. Children who are traumatized as well as those who are defiant often have a similar breakdown in the ability to regulate their emotions. For these children, persistent unsafe feelings lead to a sense of constant threat which impacts feelings and self-concept and makes them more willing to use physical aggression.
Trauma Interventions Needed For Those at High Risk: The NCTSN has also recommended that interventions be targeted to children in groups most likely to be traumatized. This includes children in the juvenile justice system since many are from other high risk groups including children living in urban areas and disadvantaged communities. The NCTSN cites the importance of screening young people involved in substance abuse and delinquency for trauma. Since offending tends to occur soon after violent victimization, early interventions are vital.
Early results of the trauma screening efforts at the CSSD detention centers indicate that as many as 65% of detainees have had traumatic exposure. This includes exposure to community violence, domestic violence, physical abuse, sexual abuse, traumatic loss and loss of someone close as a result of accidents and murder. For juvenile probationers, some 20% screen positively for the traumatic experience subscale of the MAYSI-2 assessment. We have also found relationships between trauma and suicidal ideation in detainees, as well as elements of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder which is associated with suicide, domestic violence and substance abuse.
New Screenings and Intervention Services Now Available: In January, the New Haven Detention Center le Detention Center became the first location in CT’s detention system to provide trauma intervention services. These services are now also available in the Hartford and Washington Street Detention Centers.
Following specialized training for detention center mental health staff by a team of mental health researchers and practitioners at the University of Connecticut Health Center, led by Dr. Julian Ford, Professor of Psychiatry at UCONN, and a well known expert on trauma and its effects, critical elements related to trauma are queried using traumatic events screening instruments. The information is then incorporated into treatment planning for clients. Juveniles identified as needing trauma services are referred to group intervention services that are based on Dr. Ford’s Trauma Adaptive Recovery Group Education and Therapy model (TARGET) at the three centers.
Raising awareness of traumatic events is the first step in training detention staff to understand the mechanisms of trauma and traumatic stress and learning the skills to deal more effectively with children experiencing traumatic reactions while under detention supervision. The TARGET program is designed to enhance a juvenile’s coping skills rather than to focus on the traumatic event itself in order to avoid generating excessive stress.
State and National Interest: The Department of Children and Families (DCF) has also become involved with providing services for traumatic stress to their juvenile justice population. Led by Dr. David Albert from DCF Special Projects, the agency is seeking to integrate educational awareness and trauma services into its programming at CT Juvenile Training School, High Meadows and Riverview as well as into training for parole staff. The DCF effort is working closely with Dr. Ford and CSSD, and uses the TARGET program intervention services. The work of this collaboration between UCONN, CSSD, and DCF was presented to a national audience at the March NCTSN conference in Washington, D.C. and has been accepted for presentation at the national conference of the National Commission on Correctional Health Care in Denver this fall.
The collaboration has also been written about in the NCTSN Bulletin (see link below). Because of the far reaching effects of traumatic stress and its impact on criminal justice populations, CSSD is also considering future efforts to provide training on identifying trauma and successful interventions that will aid adult and juvenile probation staff in dealing with this issue among probationers with co occurring disorders.
For further information on trauma and its impact on young people, contact Dr. John Chapman at John.Chapman@jud.state.ct.us or go to:
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Suggestions? Questions? Comments? Concerns? Contact us! Rena.Goldwasser@jud.state.ct.us |