Grant: Partnerships for Health System Improvement (PHSI)

The teen years are ones of stress and transition. Some youth emerge into adulthood unscathed while others face more challenges, such as difficulties with mental health or substance use, and may find themselves in conflict with the law. While some of the delinquent behaviours may be experimental or transitory, more persistent and serious manifestations may occur. Unless access to age-appropriate services and appropriate care plans are provided, untreated mental illness, often in conjunction with drug problems, may impede the successful transition to adult roles and responsibilities. This lost opportunity can exact a considerable toll on the youth, their families and society. Young people found in custodial facilites of the justice system display a particularly high level of mental health and substance use problems, and are among the most vulnerable youth sub-group with unmet needs for treatment services. THe extent to which these needs among these high-risk youth are undiagnosed or unmatched with services is largely unknown in Canada, but the prevention of ongoing or future mental health problems, as well as further conflict with the law, requires attention to these difficulties as early as possible. Knowledge user partners, consisting of decision-makers in the Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services, the Forensic Mental Health Section of Ontario's Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, and the Youth Justice and Strategic Initiatives branch of Justice Canada, have identified the pressing mental health and substance use issues of the incarcerated youth justice population. A primary concern is the need for better screening tools to identify youth most in need of further assessment and possible referral to appropriate treatment services. By training relevant staff in a new more senstive instrument, and evaluating its implementation for youth in custody, this study will provide the basis for improved access and care, and better mental health outcomes