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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 04041989 - 1.59 1_, 059 TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS Contra FROM: Gerald S. Buck, County Probation Officer s Costa ot Count DATE: March 20, 1989 y SUBJECT: Report on Mandatory Drug Education Program for Incarcerated Juveniles and Status of Chaplaincy Services at Juvenile Hall SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDATION Accept report on Mandatory Drug Education Program for Incarcerated Juveniles and status of Chaplaincy Services at Juvenile Hall. BACKGROUND On February 7, 1989 the Board asked me, with the assistance of the Director of Alcohol/Drug Abuse/Mental Health Services to develop and implement a mandatory drug education program for incarcerated juveniles. It was requested that we consider use of a video presentation on drug education to residents of Probation. facilities. We were also requested to report on the status of Chaplaincy services at Juvenile Hall. It is well known to the Probation Department and others that youth who become residents of Juvenile Hall, Byron Boys' Ranch, the Boys' Treatment Center and the Girls' Treatment Center are more likely to have used illegal drugs and that many abuse use of drugs to the point of significant harm to themselves and others. It is estimated that 80% or more of these youth have used drugs on a regular basis to some degree. Twenty-four percent of incarcerated youth have been arrested for a drug offense. Many youth are very sophisticated in their knowledge of drugs in their culture. These youth are not experimenters, but rather chronic users of mind and mood altering substances. Many are in need of extensive care, treatment, guidance and counseling if they are to alter their life styles. CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: X_YES SIGNATURE,_rl�:: Z�: RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE APPROVE OTHER SIGNATURE(S): ACTION OF BOARD ON pr1 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED X OTHER X DIRECTED that health department personnel be included in the educational programs ; and REQUESTED County Administrator to obtain a copy of a program on drug abuse effects on children which aired on Channel 4 this date. VOTE OF SUPERVISORS X I I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE UNANIMOUS(ABSENT ) AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AYES: NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN. CC: County Probation Officer ATTESTED April 4, 1989 County Administrator PHIL BATCHELOR,CLERK OF THE BOARD OF Stuart McCullough, Mental Health SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR M382 (10/88) BY 'DEPUTY N* e--I" -2- It is also cogent to recognize that Juvenile Hall is a detention facility where residents may be housed only a few hours or for several weeks pending court hearings and placement into other treatment programs. During the course of a year 3 ,200 youth are admitted to Juvenile Hall. The other facilities are treatment programs to which wards of the Court are committed for periods of from 45 days to nine months. REPORT OF CURRENT AND PLANNED PROGRAMS: A. Drug Education in Facilities: The Juvenile Court School has established a substance abuse program as part of its health science curricula. Drug education is provided for all residents on a rotated basis as the residents attend school in each facility. A wide variety of audio-visual materials are used in the institutional classrooms. In addition, the Court Schools utilize the Teen Age Program (TAP) throughout the school year ( 12 months) . Topics are presented weekly. TAP provides primary drug and substance abuse education to residents. The curricula utilized is in a 12 part series and is repeated every four months. Each presentation is self contained and builds upon the previous one. TAP is sponsored by the Public Health Division of Health Services. Presentations are made by health professionals and appropriate community groups. This is done in the classroom in the facilities and is presented in the evening at the Boys' Ranch. Time spent on TAP topics weekly is: Juvenile Hall - 6 hours Girls' Center - 1 hour Boys ' Center - 1 hour Boys' Ranch - 2 hours Topics of the TAP are: Communication Skills Self Esteem Decision Making Sexual Responsibility and Contraception Sexually Transmitted Diseases AIDS Addictive Behavior/Substance Abuse Smoking Physical Fitness and Nutrition Depression and Suicide Currently TAP coordinator, Beverly Jacobs, has applied for a drug education grant to develop a Drug Education Speakers Bureau to be used in public schools. Presenters would include youth residents from our treatment facilities who have a background of drug use. A video tape would be developed through this grant, if awarded. B. Drug Treatment in Facilities: Through the help of AIRS, a drug counseling program has recently been instituted at each of our treatment facilities: Boys ' Ranch - two times per week Boys' Center - two times per week Girls' Center - two times per week In addition, Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous hold regular meetings in all four of our facilities: -3- Boys' Ranch - Weekly ( 20 residents) Boys' Center - Twice per week ( 10 residents) Girls' Center - Twice per month (all residents) Juvenile Hall - Weekly (10 - 20 residents) Individual crisis counseling in substance abuse is also provided by YIACT staff and our Mental Health worker, Theo Durden, and other staff. C. Video- In addition to videos and other materials utilized by the School program and TAP, we have recently reviewed the video sponsored by AAUW "Drug Free Kids,, A Parent's Guide" . It is well done and useful for middle class families and would be helpful to parents of selected facility residents. We've requested facility staff to use it to stimulate group discussions among residents. If it proves helpful, we will expand its use. D. Chaplaincy Program: We are fortunate to have such a dedicated and capable Chaplain, Rev. Keith Spooner. He not only provides excellent ecumenical spiritual guidance, but also is a skilled crisis counselor. Recently the Council of Churches reduced the Juvenile Facility Chaplaincy Program budget by 500, resulting in the loss of an Assistant Chaplain. We appealed to the Council to not cut funds, but we understand the great need for chaplaincy services in the jail system which houses many more residents. Reverend Spooner must now rely more heavily on part-time staff, interns and volunteers. Two target areas of the Chaplaincy Program are pastoral care in areas of child abuse victimology and abuse of drugs. Chapel services, encouraging AA and NA sponsorship, special education on drugs and counseling are the tools presently utilized. CONCLUSION We are keenly aware of the needs of our resident population in the area of drug abuse education, counseling and treatment. All are in need of accurate, reliable information and many are far beyond being only in need of information. As can be seen in the aforementioned brief description of our efforts, we have enlisted the assistance of the County Office of Education in our facility schools attended by all residents, the Public Health TAP program, AIRS for drug counseling, AA and NA for support group guidance and Mental Health and Chaplaincy programs for individual care and crisis intervention. We are also now testing the use of a video for assistance in parent/child interpersonal relationships on drug abuse and plan to utilize residents and video development via TAP in public schools. While more can always be done, we are proud of our efforts to deal with drug issues among the residents of our facilities. We have moved far beyond the simple showing of a drug education video as is proposed by the Board. -4- We trust that the programs described are consistent with the intent of the Board. As can be seen, there is drug education and counseling in all facilities to deal with special needs of our residents. Our greatest need now is to continue these programs for youth.