NPJS Summer Training Series 

Session #1: The Long-Term Effects of Juvenile Transfer Laws on Juvenile Offenders': The Life-Course Perspective

Thursday, August 12, 2021 • 2:00pm ET   
Presenter: Bryanna Kirlin, Ph.D. • Montgomery County (PA) Juvenile Probation 

Description: Methods for transferring youthful offenders to the adult criminal justice system have been available since the inception of the separate juvenile justice system. During the "tough on crime” era, law and policy expanded the eligibility and methods for youth to be transferred in an effort to deter criminal offending and reduce recidivism. The real result however has been hundreds of thousands of youth sentenced each year within the adult system. These youth experience long-lasting negative effects across their life-course to the detriment of community safety and rehabilitative efforts. How do we move forward with transfer in an effective evidence-based manner? The answer is research!

Learning Objectives
After participating in this webinar, learners will be able to:

1. Understand the long-term effects of transfer across a juvenile offender's life-course.
2. Criticize the use of juvenile transfer laws for non-violent and non-chronic offenders.
3. Discuss future policy and research recommendations for the continued use of transfer based on available research.

Session #2: Trust-Based Relational Interventions                          

Thursday, June 24, 2021 • 2:00pm ET
Presenter: Greg Sumpter, Ph.D. • Grayson County (TX) Department of Juvenile Services 

Description: Trust Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) is an attachment-based, trauma informed intervention that is designed to meet the complex needs of vulnerable young people. TBRI utilizes three principles: Empowering Principles to address physical needs, Connecting Principles for attachment needs, and Correcting Principles to disarm fear-based behaviors. TBRI is based on promising evidence and a holistic approach. While the intervention is based on research in attachment, sensory processing, and neuroscience, the heartbeat of TBRI is connection.

Learning Objectives 
After participating in this webinar, learners will be able to:

• Talk about moving from trauma informed to trauma responsive.

This intervention requires a movement from simply being aware that young people have likely experienced trauma towards actively responding in a way that provides safety, choice, and voice. With connection being central, it ends up being a healthy way to respond to all youth, including those who have experienced trauma. 

• Understand the importance of meeting needs.

The assumption of this intervention is that all behavior is a form of communication, and behavior that is not aligned with expectations is a signal to an unmet need. The meeting of needs usually happens with a primary approach for all youth based on two principles and yet an individualized response to each youth.

• Know why correction is still necessary but needs a reframe.

If there are fear-based behaviors, it is a signal of an unmet need and presents an emerging opportunity with self-regulation skills. For TBRI to be successful, it requires a proactive approach (the other two principles – Empowering and Connection). There are also active disciplinary responses in the moment of dysregulation – including the IDEAL response and Levels of Response.

• Better understand one juvenile justice department’s journey with TBRI.

This presentation will include Grayson County’s Department of Juvenile Services efforts to implement this intervention.

Session #3: Best of Both Worlds: The Neuroscience of Emotions and Behaviors  

Thursday, July 8, 2021 • 2:00pm ET
Presenter: Kellie Rhodes • The Limbic Legacy (Colorado) 

Description: Science has finally proven us right. Frontline staff have known for decades that emotions and behaviors are driven by survival experiences and they are contagious. Now neuroscience can prove it right down to the firing of a synapse.

Learning Objectives
After participating in this webinar, learners will be able to:

• Identify the survival experiences that drive "deviant" emotions and behaviors.
• Discuss a tactile method for understanding the aggregation of emotions
• Identify a method to help prevent and predict aggression and violence

Session #4: Embracing the Team Approach: One Vision, One Goal, One Outcome

Tuesday, July 20, 2021 • 2:00pm ET
Presenter: Mark A. Hamlett, , B.S., • New Beginnings Youth Development Center-Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services • Washington D.C. 

Description: This presentation will highlight innovative staff development programs and strategies which can improve both staff morale and the culture of a program. The presenter is highly respected for his exceptional leadership ability to develop both direct care staff and facility managers in the areas of Safety/ Security, Policy and Procedure Development, Staff Development, Coaching, Leadership Development, Program Development, and Positive Youth Development.

Learning Objectives
After participating in this webinar, learners will be able to:

• Discuss the importance of staff development and the connection to building a cohesive/productive environment
• Establish a staff culture aligned with the vision and goals of the organization
• Name key points of effective leadership and coaching practices for middle managers
• Understand the teachable moment method
• Identify the benefit of leading from within
• Incorporate the team approach through staff inclusion
• Name effective strategies for messaging the vision from leadership to the front-line staff

Session #5: Effective Communication and Team-Building                     

Thursday, August 5, 2021 • 2:00pm ET
Presenter: Mack McGhee • New Beginnings Youth Development Ctr. & Youth Service Centers (DYRS) • Washington DC

Description: We develop mission, vision, and value statements for our agencies and organizations, put them in employee handbooks, post them in the entrances of our offices or facilities…and then what? Learn from Mack McGhee, Chief of Secure Programs, at the Department of Youth and Rehabilitation Services in Washington DC how they have made a priority of living their agency values by thought, word, and action EVERYDAY. In the last 27 years, Mack has had the opportunity to be a part of a number of teams and work in various jurisdictions around the country.  One of the most important things to an organizations overall success is the ability to effectively communicate and work effectively as a team.  In this presentation, he will share his vast experience from learning to be a team player to building effective teams that work together to achieve the Mission and Vision of the Organization.

Learning Objectives 
After participating in this webinar, learners will be able to:

• Discuss the key points of effective communication and why it’s important
• Understand the importance of establishing an effective team
• Discuss how Trial & Error help us to grow as a team
• Identify disconnecting relationship habits
• Identify connecting relationship habits
• Create quality professional relationships

Session #6: Flipping the Switch on Hot, Impulsive Emotions               

Tuesday, August 24, 2021 • 2:00pm ET
Presenters: David W. Roush, Ph.D. • Juvenile Justice Associates • Albion, Michigan; Carol Cramer Brooks • Juvenile Justice Associates • Wilmington, North Carolina 

Description:  All youth get mad. Their hot, impulsive emotions contribute to poor decisions and behaviors.  We know that youth who can calm down, either through self-regulation or with the assistance of committed adults, are able to effectively use strategies such as the CBT tool of “stop and think.”  Getting to the “stop” part of “stop and think” means that youth need to “Flip the Switch” from fast/hot automatic thinking to slow/cool decision-making.  De-escalation likely precedes the acquisition of new cognitive or self-talk skills.  Join the presenters for this interactive Zoom session as they discuss a) how youth “Flip the Switch” or transition from fast/hot automatic thinking to slow/cool decision-making, b) the role of facility staff in this process, and c) some specific factors related to both the triggering of a fast/hot response and transition mechanisms back to slow/cool. Finally, the presenters will share the Youth Transitions Survey Instrument, a new tool to hear directly from youth on the most important factors for them as they transition from hot to cool.   

Learning Objectives
After participating in this webinar, learners will be able to:

• Identify the significance of the Crime Lab’s research regarding the effectiveness of CBT programs and the benefit of also incorporating CBT 2.0.
• Use Kahneman’s System 1 and 2 to explain Flipping the Switch from a hot/fast to a cool/slow system allowing for more rational decision making.
• Identify a minimum of three ways in which staff control the climate, thus making the opportunity for CBT to be more effective.
• Identify a minimum of three youth self-regulation skill sets critical in recognizing and managing the hot zone

VIRTUAL INSTITUTE REGISTRATION FEES (please click register now to see additional details)

RATE: $35 per virtual session or take the entire series for $159