Mental Health Perspective on Juvenile Justice (From National Conference on Juvenile Justice, P 349-356, 1993, Lynn Atkinson and Sally-Anne Gerull, eds. -- See NCJ-148673)

• NCJ Number: 148703
• Author(s): J Jureidini
• Date Published: 1993
• Length: 8 pages
• Sale Source: Australian Institute of Criminology
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description
• Language: English
• Country: Australia
• Note: From proceedings of the National Conference on Juvenile Justice, held in Adelaide, Australia, September 22-24, 1992.

Annotation

This paper describes the structure and work of the Forensic Psychiatry Unit (FPU), as part of a broader Adolescent Outreach Service of the Adelaide Children's Hospital, Division of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (Australia).

Abstract

The FPU was developed in an effort to improve mental health services to a range of juveniles not being served effectively by existing systems. The unit has responsibility for court reports ordered by the judges of the children's court in relation to offending, providing psychiatric services to juvenile detention centers, and providing consultation to and accepting referrals from Family and Community Services fieldworkers. The FPU is a small unit with a clinical staff of less than one full-time equivalent, but with the indispensable services of full-time secretarial support. The psychotherapeutic principles used by the unit include firm guidance that requires the client to address the root causes of the problem behavior, consultation with other mental health professionals about the therapist's own feelings about clients, and sensitivity to what a client's behavior says about his or her needs. The psychiatric services of the unit also extend to the provision of continuity of care in therapeutic environments and consultation in sentencing.