'Mental Health Training for Juvenile Justice' offered by OCBA, October 9

The Oakland County Bar Association will present a “Mental Health Training for Juvenile Justice: Juvenile Law Attorneys” on Saturday, October 9, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the OCBA offices, 1760 South Telegraph Road, Suite 100, in Bloomfield Hills.

In 2016, more than 850,000 youth under the age of 18 were arrested. Research over the last 30 years has firmly established that youth with mental health and substance use conditions (behavioral health conditions), as well as those who have experienced significant child trauma are disproportionately represented in the juvenile justice system.

Juvenile attorneys are responsible for effective representation of youth, many of whom are experiencing behavioral health conditions. These attorneys are often untrained to understand how these conditions impact their interaction with their client and the client's ability to assist in their representation.

This training is designed to build practitioner knowledge of the behavior health and trauma needs of youth, while also building their skills and capacity to use trauma-informed and therapeutic approaches when interacting with their clients. In addition, attorneys will build their skills to prevent crisis situations, and effectively intervene and de-escalate when these situations do occur.

The training will be provided in collaboration with staff from Oakland Community Health Network and Oakland Schools. Staff were trained by the National Center for Youth and Justice Opportunity (NCYOJ) to become expert trainers.

Topics too be covered at the training include:

  • Adolescent Brain Development
  • Impacts of Childhood Trauma
  • Historical and Intergenerational Trauma
  • Signs and Symptoms of Behavioral Health Conditions
  • Juvenile Suicide
  • The Family Experience
  • Evidence-based Treatments
  • Psychopharmacological Treatments
  • Active Listening
  • Crisis Intervention and De-escalation
  • Vicarious Trauma
  • Attorney Wellness

Speaking at the training will be Ashley Sansom, mental health and juvenile justice coordinator at Oakland Community Health Network; and attorney Carolyn Claerhout, manager, Pupil, District and Corporate Services at Oakland Schools.

The training will include a one-hour break for participants to purchase lunch from local vendors. Coffee, water and tea will be provided.

Credit has been approved with the Oakland County Bar Association for 8.00 Juvenile credits.

OCBA members and non-members can attend the training for free. To register, visit www.ocba.org and click on “events.”