Every month, we’re bringing you the top news in addiction treatment and justice services from publications around the country. In addition, we’ll share what we’re reading as our team creates and updates evidence-based curricula and training for our partners around the world.
Addiction Treatment | Justice Services | What We're Reading
Addiction Treatment
Headline
Culturally Adapted Approaches in Substance Use Disorder Treatment: Serving Under-Resourced Populations
What
Research has shown that non-white clients often experience a lesser quality of treatment while in SUD programs. Accordingly, these racial and ethnic minority group members are more likely to drop out of treatment, not receive the benefits of counseling and generally eschew future support from treatment providers due to past negative experiences.
Why It Matters
Appropriate cultural adaptations are those that maintain the core elements of an evidence-based approach while also considering language, culture and context to be consistent with participants’ cultural patterns and values (SAMHSA, 2022). Facilitators play a central role in making these adaptations by understanding the unique cultural backgrounds of participants. By using a culturally adapted approach, SUD providers can not only more effectively serve these historically underserved populations but also ensure that they feel able to seek out and stay in treatment programs.
Headline
Hospitals Look to Storytelling to Reduce Stigma Toward People with Addiction
What
Healthcare can be more compassionate when we see patients as individuals, learn about their stories and understand our own implicit biases. Without this kind of treatment, clients and patients can develop a negative view of healthcare and stop seeking help even when they most need it.
How They Did It
Sally Wasmuth, assistant professor of occupational therapy at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, creates films for healthcare professionals showing a diverse range of individual experiences with substance use.
Headline
HHS Awards Nearly $245 Million to Support Youth Mental Health and Help the Health Care Workforce Meet Families’ Mental Health Needs
What
Nearly $245 million from the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will provide support for youth mental health and aid healthcare workers in addressing mental health needs.
Where the Money Goes
Nearly one-third of the funds are allocated to Project AWARE, with two other significant portions — $57.7 million and $60 million, respectively — going to Mental Health Awareness Training (school personnel, first responders and law enforcement) and mental health training for primary care clinicians treating children and adolescents.
Justice Services
Headline
Desistance from Crime: Interventions to Help Promote Desistance and Reduce Recidivism
What
Desistance is a collective effort driven by family, community stakeholders and state, local and federal agencies. Law enforcement, courts, corrections and community supervision have synergistic effects when working in concert.
Why It Matters
Incorporating a holistic approach to desistance can improve outcomes for justice-involved persons, support a more positive view of the justice system and reduce recidivism while preventing crime.
Headline
Youth and the Juvenile Justice System: 2022 National Report
What
The report provides data-centered answers to frequently asked questions about the nature of youth victimization and offending as well as the juvenile justice system’s response to these acts. Seven distinct areas are covered: youth population characteristics, youth victims, juvenile justice system structure and process, law enforcement and youth, youth in juvenile court and youth in corrections.
What We Got from It
While the report provides a greater depth of information, several eye-opening facts gave us pause:
- Though fewer and fewer youth live in poverty (declining rate since 2010), more and more are experiencing major depressive episodes.
- Since 2009, more youth aged 10-17 have died from suicide than homicide.
- Since the mid-1990s, the number of serious violent crimes committed by youth has significantly declined.
- The narrowing of transfer provisions between the juvenile courts and adult criminal courts since 2004 has meant fewer youth are tried as adults.
- In 2019, just under 700,000 arrests were made involving a person under 18 years of age.
- Black youth represent 15% of the juvenile population; however, they account for 35% of the delinquency caseload.
- In 2018, of facilities addressing youth needs, 70% reported they evaluated all youth for mental health needs by in-house professionals, an increase of 12% from 2000.
Headline
President Biden Signs Spending Bill Funding Key Criminal Justice Programs
What
On December 29, 2022, President Biden signed a $1.7 billion spending package into law, including the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP), the Justice Reinvestment Initiative and the Second Chance Act.
What the Funds Do
Though the spending package includes many smaller provisions, the three core ones are:
- $45 million for JMHCP, which funds mental health courts, mental health and substance use disorder treatment in the criminal justice system, community reentry services, local law enforcement training to address/respond to individuals with mental health needs and similar programs in the criminal justice system.
- $35 million for Justice Reinvestment Initiative, which uses data to help states reduce corrections and criminal justice spending. Additionally, it helps states invest the savings into methods that improve public safety.
- $125 million for the Second Chance Act, which offers grant recipients funding to improve outcomes for individuals in reentry via programs such as employment training, education, housing, mentoring and victim’s support. This act also helps jurisdictions to develop, improve and expand reentry programs and policies.
What We’re Reading: The Myth of Normal
Renowned author and physician Gabor Mate’s newest work summarizes why so much of what we perceive as “normal” in our society is in fact the result of chronic stress and trauma. The Myth of Normal provides a compassionate guide to hope and healing in the face of these challenges. As one reviewer stated, it “points the way to what is required to create a more hospitable, human-friendly world for ourselves and our children.”