This is a 3-day training program for probation supervisors who monitor adolescent offenders. The program seeks to identify mental health and substance use needs through evidence-based practices in order to increase and improve adolescents’ access to community-based clinical services.
The curriculum includes a series of standardized tools, treatment guidelines based on assessment results, and referral procedures to service providers.
Training days are structured as follows:
1) Understanding and overview of the supervisor’s roles and responsibilities, and a review of adolescent development and family involvement;
2) Training in the use of motivational interviewing, using open questions, affirmations, reflective listening, risk factors, assessment tools, and sanctions and incentives;
3) Lessons on the importance of motivational interviewing in assessment and planning, as well as lessons on the network of service plans and interventions aimed at adolescent behavior change.