State of Michigan Young Men Going the Distance Intensive Aftercare/Re-entry Program

This project, 'Young Men Going the Distance,' will support an intensive reentry program at the W. J. Maxey Boys Training School, a state-operated residential juvenile rehabilitation facility located in Whitmore Lake, Michigan. The Training School operates under the direction of the Bureau of Juvenile Justice (BJJ) and provides multidisciplinary treatment programming in both a medium and high-secure setting for 150 male residents, ages 12 ' 20, under supervision of county court systems. This project will enhance existing pre-release services at the Training School. Currently, treatment planning focusing on skills and services a resident needs in order to be successful in the community begins upon admission to the Training School for all residents. The Maxey Treatment Model is a comprehensive program of self-discovery and change using a cognitive-behavior approach, aggression replacement therapy, and motivational therapy. Each task level has a workbook that guides the resident through the task, such as: committing offense, life history, violent and deviant behavior, cycles, and empathy. The sex offender programs have additional workbooks addressing their specific treatment needs. This intensive reentry program will accept youth from a pool of 140 residents at the W. J. Maxey Boys Training School. These youth come from counties statewide and have a diverse racial make-up. This population also includes substances abusers, sex offenders, arsonists, youth with co-morbidity diagnosis and developmentally disabled youth. Youth selected for this program will have been residents at the Training School from one to two years at a minimum. They will have demonstrated the willingness to engage in treatment and examine their individual histories that helped shape their value systems, thought processes, and behaviors. As a result of this project, a 10 bed intensive reentry program will be created. It is the hope of the Bureau of Juvenile Justice to be able to provide a documented reduction in the rate of recidivism for residents completing the intensive aftercare program against the average rate of recidivism for all youth the Bureau serves.

CA/NCF