Webinar Announcement: Child Trauma and Juvenile Justice: Prevalence, Impact and Treatment

The majority of youth involved with the juvenile justice system have a diagnosable mental health disorder. Furthermore, recent research demonstrates that many youth in the juvenile justice system have experienced traumatic victimization and exhibit symptoms of trauma. This webinar will summarize the current state of knowledge regarding this population. It will review:

• Current definitions of trauma, including traumatic events, experiences and effects;
• The prevalence of traumatic experiences among youth involved with the juvenile justice system;
• The impact of childhood trauma on youth development, behavior and delinquency; and
• Emerging responses to trauma among youth in the juvenile justice system including trauma screening, assessment, treatments and recovery.

This webinar will be presented by Dr. Gene Griffin, a clinical psychologist and attorney who presently serves as an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. For the last three years, Dr. Griffin has worked with the National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice and the Models for Change Mental Health/Juvenile Justice Action Network, which is supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Dr. Griffin is the lead developer and trainer of the Mental Health Training Curriculum for Juvenile Justice (MHTC-JJ)—which will soon include a new module focused exclusively on trauma and its impact on youth in the juvenile justice system. Dr. Griffin will preview the new trauma module for the MHTC-JJ in this webinar.

The webinar, supported by the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, will be held from 2:00-3:00pm (ET) on Thursday, August 25, 2011. To register for the webinar, click here.