North Carolina’s Juvenile Justice Treatment Continuum Wins National Award for Excellence in Health Information

June 2011

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System of care model helps youth and their families benefit from services and treatment

Raleigh, NC – Crossroads Behavioral Healthcare, a Local Management Entity serving Yadkin, Surry, and Iredell counties, was one of thirteen exemplary individuals and organizations selected from around the nation to be honored with the National Council Awards of Excellence for their use and support of the Juvenile Justice Treatment Continuum (JJTC). JJTC guides youth in the juvenile justice system who are dealing with mental illness or substance abuse issues, and their families, through a continuum of treatment and services.”We are excited to have been selected for this honor,” said Candice Moore, Crossroads System of Care coordinator and Cornerstone Project Director. “The award will help us continue to support JJTC in helping children and families to believe in themselves and have hope for their future.”

JJTC has successfully implemented a service delivery platform that creates and manages treatment continuums specifically designed for youth in the juvenile justice system who also have co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders. The project supports data-based, evidence-based treatment through an interactive database, multiagency collaboration, and systems of care-based service provision. In addition, JJTC sponsors collaborative efforts that allow services to be culturally appropriate and sustainable through the blending of funding and integration of services within the local community.

The award was given by the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare and comes with a $10,000 grant supported by Qualifacts Systems, Inc.

JJTC has been supported in 26 counties in North Carolina through partnership with the N.C. Governors Crime Commission, N.C. Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Smoky Mountain Center, East Carolina Behavioral Health, Five County Behavioral Health, Crossroads Behavioral Health, Action for Children N.C., Project Challenge N.C., Duke University Center for Child and Family Policy and Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust Foundation.

The project has been developed and managed through the System of Care collaborative, Communities Caring For Families, in partnership with Meridian Behavioral Health Services and Project Challenge of N.C.

Patricia Long and David Hutchinson, two of the designers and lead trainers of the JJTC model, and Joseph Long, the lead programmer and developer of the JJTC-ISIS database, accepted the award with David Swann, CEO of Crossroads Behavioral Health Services. The original team of designers also included Gordon Keath of Project Challenge NC and Chuck Mallonee, Chief Court Counselor for the 30th Judicial District of North Carolina.