Reclaiming Futures Ventura County

The Grants to Expand Substance Abuse Treatment Capacity for Juvenile Drug Courts Program (here after referred to as the CSAT/OJJDP Juvenile Drug Court Program) supports programs to enhance and expand substance abuse treatment capacity for juvenile drug courts. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJ) issued a joint solicitation for the FY 2009 CSAT/OJJDP Juvenile Drug Court Program. The purpose of the program is to enhance the capacity of existing juvenile drug courts to serve substance-abusing juvenile offenders through the integration and implementation of the Juvenile Drug Court: Strategies in Practice and the Reclaiming Futures program models. CSAT will provide funding for the treatment component of the program and OJJDP will provide funding for the operation of the juvenile drug court component.

Reclaiming Futures of Ventura County will provide expanded services to at least 130 juvenile offenders -- with a primary diagnosis of substance abuse or a primary diagnosis of mental illness and a secondary, co-occurring diagnosis of substance abuse -- each year with increased clinical mental health services and substance abuse treatment services and the implementation of the Reclaiming Futures' model, the Seven Challenges Program, and gender-specific programming. The Superior Court of California, County of Ventura -- together with its collaborative partners the Ventura County Probation Agency, the Ventura County Behavioral Health Department, the Ventura County Behavioral Health Department ' Alcohol and Drug Programs, Interface Children Family Services, and Girls Incorporated of Carpinteria -- will provide expanded and enhanced services to juvenile offenders served through the Ventura County Juvenile Drug Court. The proposed expansion and enhancement -- Reclaiming Futures Ventura County -- will include: the implementation of MET/CBT-5 and the Reclaiming Futures' model; increased clinical mental health services for juvenile offenders who have a primary diagnosis of substance abuse; increased substance abuse treatment services for juvenile who have a primary diagnosis of mental illness and a secondary, co-occurring diagnosis of substance abuse; the implementation of the Seven Challenges program to improve substance abuse treatment services; and increased gender-specific services for female juvenile offenders participating in the proposed project. Reclaiming Futures Ventura County will serve a minimum of 130 and a maximum of 150 juvenile offenders each year -- a minimum of 340 and a maximum of 440 over the initial four (4) years of project implementation. The goals of Reclaiming Futures Ventura County are to improve the operation of the Ventura County Juvenile Drug Court, improve the screening and assessment of juvenile drug court participants, improve clinical mental health and substance abuse treatment services for juvenile drug court participants, promote increased training for project staff members, and increase collaboration among collaborative partners. The successful achievement of these goals is expected to result in: increased participant and family involvement in individualized case planning, increased gender-specific programming, increased participant completion of individualized case plans, reduced recidivism rates, reduced incidents of substance abuse among project participants, and increased community partnerships designed to better serve juvenile offenders through juvenile drug court. CA/NCF