ASAP Adolescent

Juvenile Justice/Substance Abuse/Mental Health Partnership (JJ/SA/MHP)

CommuniCare has been a fully credentialed service provider in the Alliance Behavioral Health catchment area since February 2013 and is currently the only credentialed provider of substance abuse intensive outpatient (SAIOP) services for adolescents in Cumberland County.

Our agency has been recognized as a leadership site because of the results of our implementation of our evidenced-based models. More importantly, our data demonstrates much more positive outcomes for youth entering treatment in the areas of court involvement, treatment outcomes and those around school and family.

The JJ/SA/MHP substance abuse outpatient services are delivered to youth who have a documented history of substance use and/or dependence. The service population is initially screened by court counseling staff in the 12th district Court Counselor’s office and referred to JJ/SA/MHP, should consumers meet the relevant criteria. Youth under the age of 18 that qualify for a DSM-V diagnosis of a substance use disorder (abuse or dependence) are eligible for services.

CommuniCare recruits only highly qualified clinicians in good standing with their prospective licensing boards or have achieved the associate level licensing. CommuniCare only utilizes professional staff credentialed as a Certified Clinical Supervisor (CCS) or a Licensed Clinical Addictions Specialist (LCAS) or associate level LCAS (LCASA) to conduct individual and group therapy.

Goals: The goal of our substance abuse programming is to educate youth, adults and their families about the long-term dangers of chemical dependency causes and to equip our consumers with practical tools and methods to end substance dependency and move to life-long recovery.

Outcome 1: 50 % of adolescents will abstain from substances while enrolled in substance abuse intensive outpatient program (SAIOP) as evidenced by negative drug screen results, collateral interviews, youth reports and documented court progress/court reports.

Outcome 2: 60% of adolescents will decrease negative behaviors as evidence by fewer out of school suspensions, fewer violations of court and probation requirements.

Program Objectives:

• Have no new adjudications during program participation.
• Demonstrate a reduction in problem behaviors for which they were referred by termination.
• Have no new complaints during program participation.
• Demonstrate improvement in targeted skills as specified in the individual service plan by termination.
• Successfully or satisfactorily complete services as measured by performance against individual service plan.
• Decrease runaway incidents
• Increase their academic success
• Decrease secure confinements
• Decrease out of school suspensions

Substance Abuse Intensive Outpatient Goals:

CommuniCare conducts a comprehensive clinical assessment to evaluate youth involved in the juvenile justice system and incorporate the delivery and principals of the System of Care approach for family centered services and supports to determine substance use, mental health needs or co-occurring diagnoses using Seven Challenges® and the Matrix Model®. Adolescents that diagnose for this level of treatment will be offered group sessions three days per week for three-hours. Consumers will receive basic outpatient therapy for substance abuse in addition to these services.

Juvenile Detention Services:

CommuniCare assesses youth in the Cumberland Regional Juvenile Detention Center for substance use and dependence. Brief Challenges® and other clinical treatment interventions such as, psycho-education and anger management groups are provided for youth in the detention center. Clients in need of more intensive clinical services will be referred to an in-network provider of their choice.

Selected/Indicated Prevention Services

The overarching goal for substance abuse prevention is to “Reduce the prevalence of alcohol, tobacco and drug/misuse in local communities”. CommuniCare provides Selective and Indicated Substance Abuse Prevention Services to children and adolescents with identified risk factors (Selective) for substance abuse problems and/or with identified early problems related to substance use (Indicated). This is done by only utilizing evidence based practices found on the National Registry of Effective Programs and Practices (NREPP) and in accordance with the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant (SAPTBG) guidelines and standards. The Prevention curriculum utilized includes but not limited to:

• Active Parenting®
• Active Parenting of Teens®
• Strengthening Families®
• Project Alert®
• Aggression Replacement Training®
• SPARCS- Structured Psychotherapy for Adolescents Responding to Chronic Stress®

Synar Amendment

CommuniCare provides SAPTBG Synar Amendment prevention services to enforce the State’s Youth Access Law, which prohibits the sale and distribution of tobacco products to anyone under the age of 18 and enforce those laws effectively.