Dr. Teplin to discuss how mental health professionals can improve the short- and long-term outcomes of youth in the juvenile justice system

(McLean, VA, April 10, 2014) – The Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association (PRA) is pleased to announce one of the keynote speakers at the upcoming Recovery Workforce Summit: 2014 PRA Annual Conference, June 22-25, 2014, in Baltimore, Maryland. Linda A. Teplin, PhD, Owen L. Coon Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and Director of the Psycho-Legal Studies Program, Northwestern University Medical School, will lead a timely keynote address that will provide the needed empirical data and a forum to discuss how mental health professionals can improve the short- and long-term outcomes of youth in the juvenile justice system by using the findings from the Northwestern project. Senator Creigh Deeds from Virginia will also lead a keynote session at the Summit. 

“Psychiatric disorders are prevalent among incarcerated juveniles, affecting two-thirds of male and nearly three-quarters of female detainees. Yet, most longitudinal studies of youth in the juvenile justice system focus on recidivism, not on psychiatric disorders and associated outcomes. This is where Dr. Teplin’s research has gone beyond others in the field,” said Lisa Razzano, PhD, CPRP, PRA Chair. “Psychiatric rehabilitation practitioners and agencies will benefit from the information presented in Dr. Teplin’s keynote address to begin a dialogue for augmenting services in the community.”

Dr. Teplin is the primary investigator for the Northwestern Juvenile Project, the first large-scale longitudinal study of mental health needs and outcomes of delinquent youth after detention, tracking and interviewing over 1,800 participants for almost two decades. Dr. Linda Teplin’s longitudinal study at Northwestern University with juveniles and the juvenile justice system illustrates an additional population which seeks clinical, treatment, and rehabilitation services in the community as they aged throughout the duration of the study. Many of the individuals in the study have psychiatric diagnoses and the goal of the longitudinal study incorporates impact upon public health policy. Dr. Teplin’s research is widely used by government agencies and has been cited in Supreme Court hearings and in five Surgeon General reports (Paule, 2007). Psychiatric rehabilitation programs are receiving more and more referrals from forensic and community mental health sources with persons aged 18-22 years of age with a mental health diagnosis. Summit attendees will learn from Dr. Teplin what the needs of this population are and how psychiatric rehabilitation programs can be responsive to these needs and how to encourage sustainable program engagement and participation in psychiatric rehabilitation services.

“Increasingly, youth with psychiatric disorders fall through the cracks of the mental health system into the juvenile justice net. But, most stays are brief and nearly all detained youth eventually return to their communities,” said Teplin. “Our challenge is to design effective services that interrupt the revolving door between the community and corrections.” 

The Recovery Workforce Summit: 2014 PRA Annual Conference, June 22-25 at the Renaissance Harborplace Hotel in Baltimore, Maryland is the key training, education, and networking event for the entire psychiatric rehabilitation workforce; including agency executives, educators and researchers, practitioners, and peer support providers. Six concurrent tracks for all from aspiring practitioner to CEO, together with keynote sessions and special activities, will deliver skills-based training (eligible for continuing education credit), knowledge exchange, and interactive peer networking. The Summit has a specific focus on best practices, evidence-based practice, integrated healthcare, wellness, and other critical areas which expand and improve the practice of psychiatric rehabilitation. At the Summit, attendees can attend over 40 sessions, to earn over 17 hours of continuing education contact hours.