Intersections: A Community-Designed Youth Justice Diversion Program - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Intersections: A Community-Designed Youth Justice Diversion Program

Jennifer Rae Suzanne Zerger Provincial System Support Program, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

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Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)

• Canada’s largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital
• Leading research centre
• Combines:

– Clinical care – Research – Education – Policy development – Health promotion

Overview of CAMH and PSSP

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Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) Provincial System Support Program (PSSP)

• Supports Ontario’s Comprehensive Mental Health and Addictions Strategy

through system interventions.

• Five core functions:

– Information management – Knowledge exchange – Equity and engagement – Implementation work – Evaluation

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Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)

• Canada’s largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital
• Leading research centre
• Combines:

– Clinical care – Research – Education – Policy development – Health promotion

Overview of the Intersections Program

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Origins of the Intersections Program

• Champlain Youth Justice Service Collaborative

– 150 organizations and agencies – Justice, housing, education, mental health, addictions, developmental services, child welfare

• System gap: First police contact
• Evidence-based intervention: Youth Justice Liaison Diversion – UK
• Intention: Identify youth with mental illness and/or substance use issues,

intervene early, connect to community-based services, redirect away from justice system

• Structured, staged implementation process led by PSSP

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Intersections Program

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Intersections Program

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Intersections Program

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• Intersections has been adopted in 7

eastern Ontario communities

• Both rural and urban settings
• First community launched in

December 2014

• Over 400 youth and families have

participated

• Youth range from 6-17 years old, with

average age of 13

Intersections Sites

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• Community-owned initiative
• Cross-site bodies:

– Oversight Committee – Community of Practice

• Site-specific bodies:

– Regional Advisory Committee

Multi-Site Structure

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Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)

• Canada’s largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital
• Leading research centre
• Combines:

– Clinical care – Research – Education – Policy development – Health promotion

Evaluation of Intersections

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Evaluation of Intersections

• Evaluator embedded as a member of the Implementation Team
• Common, cross-site data platform
• Process evaluation completed in 2016

– Client data – including CANS assessment – 33 qualitative interviews with key stakeholders

• Outcome evaluation completed in 2017

– Client data – 21 qualitative interviews with key stakeholders – Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care – police referrals to Emergency Departments – Police contact data

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Evaluation Findings

• Qualitative themes:

– New collaborations across sectors – New efficiencies in referral and treatment access – Youth and families have positive perceptions of care

• Client data:

– Baseline needs: oppositional behaviour, impulse control, discipline at school, and attention deficit/hyperactivity – Referrals: mental health services and educational supports

• Police data:

– ~75% of youth do not have further contact with police

• Ministry data:

– Declining ER referrals in the region

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Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)

• Canada’s largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital
• Leading research centre
• Combines:

– Clinical care – Research – Education – Policy development – Health promotion

Implementation of Intersections

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Implementation Successes

• Neutral party leading the process
• Staged implementation across sites
• Flexibility
• Training and coaching
• Partnership and communications structures
• Champions

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Implementation Challenges

• Maintaining community ownership
• Turnover
• Ongoing training and outreach to police
• Inconsistent, missing data
• Using data to support decision-making
• Cross-site consistency vs. local adaptation

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Next Steps

• Scaling up
• Using evaluation findings to advocate for sustainable funding
• Evaluation capacity building
• Supporting data collection
• Training and coaching support
• Re-visiting partnership and communications structures

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Acknowledgements

• CAMH PSSP:

– Patrick Russell (Evaluation Coordinator) – Jennifer MacDonald (Research Methods Specialist)

– East Region Regional Implementation Team, including Madeleine Anderson (Evaluation Coordinator), Bryce Barker (Evaluation Coordinator), Tania Breton (Implementation Coordinator), Jamie Maskill (Manager) – Karen MacCon (Evaluation Director) and Sandra Cunning (Evaluation Director)

• Champlain Youth Justice Service Collaborative members
• Intersections Host Agencies, including: RNJ Youth Services, Laurencrest Youth

Services, Phoenix Centre for Children and Families, Crossroads Children’s Centre

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Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)

• Canada’s largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital
• Leading research centre
• Combines:

– Clinical care – Research – Education – Policy development – Health promotion

Questions?

Jennifer.Rae@camh.ca