Treatment Services

The TJJD treatment program uses a multi-disciplinary approach put into practice by the Youth Service Team (YST) and aimed at reducing risks posed by youth and promoting public safety.

The YST is composed of case managers, juvenile correctional officers, specialized treatment providers and mental health professionals, and others. The diverse expertise of this team, with mental health professionals leading the way, ensures that each youth benefits from trauma-informed programming and treatments.

The treatment professionals employ evidence-based interventions and tailor the treatment program to the youth’s needs, using both group and individual therapies.

Youth benefit from an environment in which the mental health treatment program is fully integrated into the milieu with everyone on the team employing Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) techniques, within their respective roles, and the Texas Model.

Treatment Programs

At intake, TJJD professionals assess youth to develop the youth’s individual case plan. The results of the assessment form the basis for the recommended intervention needs for each “risk domain.”

These risk domains for specialized treatment programming fall into three categories: Capital and Serious Violent Offender, Substance Use Services and Sexual Behavior.

These are the treatment programs across the TJJD:

• Mental Health Treatment Programs – Youth identified with a mental health need receive services with licensed mental health providers available at all five secure facilities. They get access to psychiatric services. At the Giddings and Brownwood campuses, dorms dedicated to serving youth in mental health treatment programs are managed at a 1:4 ratio (JCO to youth) to assure safe coverage. Youth receive weekly sessions with mental health clinicians who are housed within these dorms.
  At Giddings’ Crisis Stabilization Unit (CSU), an 8-bed unit, operates at a 1:4 ratio of coverage. It is a self-contained medical model unit with increased psychiatric and nursing oversight.
• Substance Use Services Treatment Program (SUS) – This program is employed across all facilities. There are two tiers of substance use services that are matched to a youth’s level of use in the community and risk for continued use as assessed at intake. Youth benefit from intensive treatment that helps them understand their patterns of substance use and explore often deep-seated triggers that cause them to use drugs. The two levels of treatment are moderate (10-12 weeks) and high (four to six months).
• Capital & Serious Violent Offender Treatment Program (CSVOTP) – These interventions are matched to the degree of risk and offense severity of each youth. There are three tiers of treatment services with varying degrees of intensity. Each program focuses on violence and harm reduction. Youth engage in programming designed to help them understand safe ways to get their needs met and be successful in the community. Youth explore their patterns of offending and develop detailed relapse prevention plans they present to their YST and caregivers (parents or guardians). These are the tiered programs:
  • Aggression Replacement Therapy (ART) – 12-weeks
  • Power Source (VOP) – 16-weeks
  • Capital Offender (COG) – 24-weeks
• Sexual Behavior Treatment Program (SBTP) – There are two tiers of Sexual Behavior Treatment Programming (SBTP), moderate (14 weeks) and high (24 weeks), that are matched to a youth’s level of risk and severity of offending. Professionals trained and licensed to work with these specific offenders explore patterns of offending, develop awareness of triggers and plan for preventing future offenses. Providers are highly involved in community and family reintegration to ensure a youth’s safe transition back to the community.
• Additional Services – Youth may benefit from an additional wide array of programs that can serve their special needs. These can include:
  • Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)
  • Structured Psychotherapy for Adolescents Responding to Chronic Stress (SPARCS)
  • Canine Support
  • Specialized treatment programming for chronically aggressive youth
  • Vocational Training <seems like this one should link back to Education, what do you think?>
  • Educational Assistance
  • Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT)
  • Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
  • Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI)
• Behavior Stabilization Unit (BSU) – These dorms are four-bed units served by a 1:2 ratio to be protective for youth with high-risk behaviors. They provide increased structure and individualized safety goals for the youth placed here.

What It Takes to Complete Treatment

Many of TJJD’s treatment programs are outlined in manuals and youth are required to complete all sections of programming. They are expected to engage throughout the duration of their treatment, demonstrate that they’ve internalized understanding of treatment concepts and can safely use the skills they’ve learned in programming.

The Treatment Team

TJJD employs a variety of professionals who come together in the Treatment Department. These include licensed:

• Psychologists (Ph.D. / Psy.D.s)
• Psychological Associates (LP-A)
• Professional Counselors ((LPC-S, LPC, LPC-I)
• Clinical Social Workers (LCSW-S, LCSW, LMSW, LBSW).
• Chemical Dependency Counselors (LCDC, LCDC-I)
• Sex Offender Treatment Providers (LSOTP-S, LSOTP, ASOTP)
• Marriage and Family Therapists (LMFT, LMFT-A)

Additionally, case managers and case manager supervisors work as part of the YST team serving youths at TJJD. These staff members, as their title suggests, manage a youth’s case, engaging with the youth and their caregivers and monitoring a youth’s progress through their programs. Family Reentry Enrichment Specialists also may work with the YST team, helping to connect youth to resources at home as they reenter their communities.

Documents

Contact Information