Invitation PA SOC Partnership County Assessment From DHS

As part of the work we do with youth, families and child-serving systems in Pennsylvania, we have been asked as a member of the PA System of Care Partnership State Leadership & Management Team to request your input and participation.  They are conducting this survey to obtain an extensive view of the efforts in the expanding role of Systems of Care in Pennsylvania. The attachment to this email can be distributed to the following:  staff, provider community, youth and family consumers, advisory boards or other individuals and groups as appropriate.  Thank you in advance for broadly distributing this survey invitation through your communication network and to other relevant contacts.

 

The survey is available throughout the month of April and can be accessed either online or in paper format.  Paper format is available in both Spanish and English.

 

PA SOC Partnership County Assessment survey link

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9PBMBNN

 

Download a paper copy of the survey in Spanish or English from this website

http://www.pasocpartnership.org/resources/evaluation

 

County Assessment Survey 

 

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NPJS/NCYC TRAINING FOR TRAINERS

 

Presented by: National Partnership for Juvenile Services  

Hosted by: Juvenile Detention Centers and Alternative Programs

 

July 13 - 17, 2015

 

If you are interested in enhancing your agency's training efforts, here is a great opportunity. This is a training opportunity that was rescheduled.

 

Our state association (JDCAP) members have identified a need to strengthen the skills and increase the resources for agency trainers who must offer staff development programs in a manner that also increases staff performance. Through our partnership with our National Association, we are offering a 1-week training at an extremely low price. (refer to the attached brochure/registration form). JDCAP members and members of the Institute of Applied Juvenile Justice Services (IAJJS) will be eligible for discounted rates.

 

Additionally, all attendees may use the room block for reduced lodging rates. Just mention JDCAP when making reservations. Room block rates will be honored until June 13.

 

During this week, we will use 10 new NPJS training curricula as the content and weave adult learning instructional techniques to enhance overall trainer competencies.

If you have any questions about the training, registration, or lodging, please contact Wayne Bear at wbear@pacounties.org

 

Training for Trainers Registration Form 

 

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CCAP Announces Criminal Justice Best Practices Awards

CCAP has announced the 2015 Best Practices awards for County Jails, Detention Centers and Alternative Programs, Partners and CJAB Awards. Please join me in congratulating Allegheny County and Edison Court for winning in their categories and Bucks County and Chester County for receiving honorable mention!

 

The awards will be presented during a special ceremony on June 15, 2015; however, a full list of nominees and winners can be found on the CCAP website along with more information on each of the nominated programs and facilities. 

 

Pitt Public Health Violence Prevention Initiative to Add Health Component
Program to Work Closely with Shuman Thanks to Highmark Foundation Grant

PITTSBURGH - Youth at the Shuman Juvenile Detention Center will benefit from a Highmark Foundation Grant that is allowing the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health's Violence Prevention Initiative to add a health assessment and care coordination component aimed at adolescents and young adults.  The initiative will deliver health promotion messages and holistic health to the youth.

 

"One of the main tenets of Shuman's mission is to promote the health and well-being of the youth that are committed to our care," said Earl Hill, Director of the Shuman Juvenile Detention Center. "We work hard to create an environment that fosters social, emotional, intellectual and physical development.  We're thrilled to partner with Pitt Public School's Violence Prevention Initiative on this effort, and are grateful to the Highmark Foundation for its financial support of this effort."

 

The Initiative will partner with the staff at the Shuman Center to deliver health promotion messages and holistic health, complementing primary care medical treatment. Primary care is facilitated by Liz Miller, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the Division of Adolescent & Young Adult Medicine at Pitt.  Shuman residents are already referred to appropriate programs for help with issues such as drug abuse or depression.

 

The Highmark Foundation elected to fund the health component of Pitt Public Health's Violence Prevention Initiative because of the unaddressed health needs of this vulnerable population.  Pitt Public Health will work with the Kingsley Association to deliver the health promotion intervention. With the two-year, $125,000 grant from the Highmark Foundation, the Violence Prevention Initiative will be able to partner with Shuman, and also offer the new health component to all participants in its ongoing hospital-based trauma services intervention.

 

Pitt Public Health's Violence Prevention Initiative was launched in 2012. A member of the Initiative becomes involved when someone ends up in one of Allegheny County's Level 1 trauma centers due to community violence, usually involving firearms.  The person is visited repeatedly in the hospital, and after they are discharged, to help avoid retaliation violence.  The Initiative also works with the person to get him or her into job training and away from violent crime, and will also seek to provide services to the gunshot victim's acquaintances that may be at risk of violence.

 

"One in five people who are shot will return to the emergency department with a second gunshot wound or be arrested for a violent crime within the year," said co-director Richard Garland, a visiting instructor at Pitt Public Health. "Our initiative takes advantage of what we call a 'teachable moment' when the victim realizes what a vulnerable position they are in and is receptive to learning how to lead a life that doesn't involve violence."

 

Of the 36 people enrolled in the program in the past year, so far only one has returned to the trauma department with another gunshot wound.

 

"This is a highly vulnerable population with significantly elevated rates of sexually transmitted infections, drug and alcohol abuse issues and mental health conditions," said project director Steven Albert, Ph.D., chairman of Pitt Public Health's Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences. "Health promotion outreach may be very valuable for this population in its own right, but it also may help connect offenders to services, thereby reducing the risk of repeated violence or crime."

 

A successful cell phone text messaging system developed by Brian Suffaletto, M.D., assistant professor of emergency medicine at Pitt, is planned to reinforce health messages and track participants' responses to referrals. The system also will be used to find out about participants' health behaviors, such as smoking, alcohol use, substance abuse, risky sexual activity, exercise and depression. Based on their response, the participants' will receive texts with information on the consequences of their activities, as well as goal-setting and encouragement for healthier behavior.

 

"Currently, community care coordination is typically a non-reimbursable and neglected component of adequate care for the young adults we plan to reach," said Dr. Albert. "If our effort shows that health promotion reduces the risk of more severe disease or lowers the likelihood of further contact with the criminal justice system, we will be able to make a strong case for further support of these services to federal, state and local authorities."