Stevens asks about ATI exclusions for mental health needs

Many youth ATI programs exclude young people with disabilities.

serious mental health or substance use needs.

Others have change-based, have other exclusions.

What options exist for young people who don't qualify for any programs?

Does MACJ track how many young people are turned away and why?

I want to clarify a little bit.

The programs are not necessarily excluding individuals with mental health issues.

All of our programs do have individuals who struggle with mental health challenges in them.

It's more about whether a mental health issue is the primary issue, and that needs to be dealt with before they can start working on school, before they can start working on internships.

If it's the primary issue, we want to make sure there's a program that is addressing that first and foremost.

And that is something that we are working on with Department of Health, with the State Office of Mental Health, on making sure that those programs to address mental health as a significant need are in place.

But we already know that that's already a problem because we are, when the kids are leaving the detention, we don't have places to refer them because folks are at capacity.

So that sounds like it's a circle there.

Yes.

And part of what we're working on with this Youth Justice Working Group is the circle, is the continuum of the programming.

And so in our prevention group, one of our biggest focuses is community-based mental health and having mental health services available when the youth are growing up to their family and not just when they get.

to the justice system.

I think that's the most important piece is not having these programs be justice system programs.

Oh, I want to be clear.

I'm all about prevention.

Yeah.

But we're in a crisis.

Absolutely.

And so we have to walk and chew gum at the same time.

So while we're thinking about prevention, because I'm clear, kids should not be getting services and mental health services for the first time in secure detention.

Let's be clear.

But that doesn't mean that's not what's happening currently.

And so if you're saying that you have programs that exclude kids because their first primary issue is mental health, and then we're saying that we can't refer them out because there's no programs that are accepting them, then what do we do with these kids?

Like right now, not preventative because we already didn't prevent it.

We already failed them.

So now what happens?

So these young people are being referred to the programs that currently do exist by the programs they're with, and we're making sure that we are expanding access to those programs and ensuring that they do not have charges.

In the rollout, was those programs that you expanded, are those the programs that allow access to young people with the mental health services?

The programs have no charge exclusions at all.

If somebody, again, if their primary issue is a mental health issue.

So the answer is no.

These young people who have primary mental health issues don't have programs.

That is the correct answer because it's no.

There are not enough programs for them.

So what are the programs currently for the young people with mental health issues that that's their primary focus?

That's what you just said.

What are the programs?

programs that they can be referred to right now, today.

So they can be referred to DOHMH programs in the community of federal qualified health centers?

That's interesting because when we were at the facility talking to the mental health worker, he said that a lot of times they're not accepting the kids because they're at capacity and because they have

they have charges that they aren't accepting them into those programs.

So what other programs other than H&H that are saying that they're not taking those kids to?

What else?

Yeah, so we're working closely with Department of Health.

So the answer, again, is we do not have programs that are addressing young people whose primary issue is mental health.

The answer is no, and it's okay.

If we're going to sit here and go around in circles to say, just say no, so that we can say no, we've got to figure this out.

We need to figure out what that program is.

Let's get a program and, like, figure it out.

It's no.

And if we sit here and say, like, well, we could do this and that, it then gives us a gap to think that there's something there that it's not.

So I want to be clear.

You don't have to answer it.

I'll do it for you.

The answer is no.

We do not have programs for young people who have mental health services.

Like, I'm not doing this.

Because I want us to now say, if that is a gap, let's figure out how to close this gap.

That's it.

Full stop.