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Adolescent Drug Court keeps kids close to home during recoveryEfforts to curb drug use and relative crime rates in Brown County have led not only to the formation of a Drug Court for adults, but a separate model for adolescents as well. The Adolescent Drug Court program started in February 2007 and currently has nine participants. It is based on the same model as the adult Drug Court and is aimed at youths 12 to 18 years old. “They also see the judge every week for six months, submit to random urine analysis tests to make sure they are not using drugs or alcohol, they have curfews and night checks by law enforcement,” said James Johnson, Substance Abuse Services Coordinator at New Ulm Medical Center. Amy Blake, an alcohol and drug counselor at NUMC, heads up the outpatient treatment program for the Brown County Adolescent Drug Court. “The goal is to keep them in the community and work with the environment they are in,” Blake said. “They are teens, so they’ll be back with their family at some point. Treatment assists the teens and their families understand what must change in the home environment in order to support the teen’s recovery.” Before the Adolescent Drug Court was introduced, many of those youths were sent away to half-way homes, foster care or the juvenile detention center. “A lot of these kids would be in half-way houses or treatment centers miles and miles away,” Johnson explained. “It’s hard to get parents involved in their child’s treatment if they are in Bemidji or Duluth.” Johnson also stressed the importance of family involvement for a juvenile going through treatment. “If you don’t have some of that family support through treatment then you are pretty much wasting your time. There are a few instances where an adolescent can go on without their family, but that’s rare,” Johnson said. Blake said the juvenile treatment sessions are geared toward the unique stressors and issues that age group faces. “They are going through a lot of changes with their body and dealing with self-discovery issues,” Blake said. “We talk about what’s normal and if they are dealing with thoughts or emotions that are not normal, we get them to counseling. We help them deal with family dynamics.” The program focuses on a holistic approach to treatment, Blake said. “We encourage them to take a look at their whole life and see what needs to change. We try to make them see that they can’t just fix one piece of their life and expect everything else to fall into place.” Focusing on honesty and communication is key to the program also, Blake said. “A lot of these kids don’t know how to communicate with their parents or are scared to. We look at what needs to change at home and how we can help them do that.” Like the adult Drug Court model, the juveniles are rewarded with incentives for goals met and receive sanctions for a lack of progress. They keep a journal every day that is handed over to the Drug Court judge every week to let him know what is working well and what is difficult for them. The journal is kept completely confidential between the participant and the judge. He reviews the journals and writes back to the participants. Soon, those juveniles who cannot stay in their home for one reason or another will have another option. Brown County, along with a number of other counties in southwestern Minnesota, intend to establish a residential facility for adolescents who have chemical dependency and NUMC will also be providing the treatment services for those residents, said Steve Schneider, Behavioral Health Manager for NUMC. “An important component of that program will be involving parents and preparing them for the adolescents to move home,” Schneider said. “Research definitely shows the advantages of kids receiving treatment closer to home and having the family involved.” |
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New Ulm Medical Center
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