Mental Health Training for Juvenile Justice

Research to practice brief 

MHT-JJ one-pager 

The Mental Health Training for Juvenile Justice (MHT-JJ) – developed by and for juvenile probation, detention, and corrections staff – increases staff capacity to better work with adolescents experiencing behavioral health conditions.

From probation intake to secure corrections, juvenile justice staff persons are responsible for the day-to-day care of a large population of youth, many of whom are experiencing behavioral health conditions or traumatic stress reactions. Juvenile justice involvement can exacerbate a youth’s condition, creating a dangerous situation for both the youth and juvenile justice staff. The MHT-JJ increases knowledge of adolescent development, child trauma and adolescent behavioral health conditions, helps staff develop an understanding of how these issues may affect youth-staff interactions, and enhances skills that support effective and safe interactions between youth and staff.

NCYOJ is excited to offer a number of yearly Train-the-Trainer events. As the MHT-JJ curriculum requires specialized knowledge regarding juvenile justice systems and clinical training, NCYOJ encourages prospective attendees to apply in pairings that include a juvenile justice professional and a clinician. Please see registration details for specific date and location offerings.

What are the benefits of becoming a certified trainer?

Certified trainers…

• Have access to the most current training curricula, which is updated annually.
• Participate in continuing learning activities to support in-depth understanding of best practice for educating adult learners and emerging research on topics covered by the curriculum.
• Collect and report evaluation data to NCYOJ, which is used to inform updates to the training curricula, and highlight practice improvements nationally.

If you are interested in partnering with us to host a MHT-JJ Train-the-Trainer, please see our host site application. We are currently accepting applications for July 2020 and beyond.

For more detailed information, please contact NCYOJ at ncyoj@prainc.com.