Youth in the Legal System: A Critical Prevention Population

Tue, 6/14/2022 - 3:30pm - 5:00pm

Youth in the Legal System Webinar Recording

This 90-minute webinar introduced attendees to two HEAL Prevention Cooperative studies testing interventions to prevent opioid misuse and use disorder among youth involved in the legal system.

During this 90-minute webinar, attendees learned about two HEAL Prevention Cooperative studies pdf  16.04 MB testing interventions to prevent opioid misuse and use disorder among youth involved in the legal system. This webinar presented factors that make youth in the legal system a priority prevention population and discussed lessons learned during the early stages of implementation of two preventative interventions being tested among youth transitioning out of legal residential settings. Attendees had the opportunity to ask questions and participate in the discussion during the live webinar.

Topics Covered

  • Heard from experts about ongoing research to test opioid misuse preventative interventions for implementation among youth in the legal system.
  • Identified the factors that make youth in the legal system a priority population for opioid misuse and use disorder prevention services.
  • Learned about implementing programs among youth involved in the legal system, to determine whether similar prevention strategies could be adopted in your community.

This webinar series presents current topics, research, and findings on the prevention of opioid misuse and use disorder. Attendees hear updates from experts involved in the HEAL Prevention Initiative (HPI), a portfolio of research aiming to prevent opioid misuse and use disorder by advancing science in four strategic areas: (1) risk identification, (2) social determinants, health equity, and policy, (3) intervention development, and (4) dissemination, implementation, scale-up, and sustainment of prevention services. Attendees learn about progress made by the HEAL Prevention Cooperative pdf  16.04 MB, an HPI program that includes 10 research projects and a coordinating center working to develop preventative interventions in diverse settings (e.g., tribal communities, emergency department, school-based health centers, child welfare system, juvenile justice system, behavioral health centers) among young people ages 15 to 30. Attendees also had the opportunity to ask questions and participate in the discussion during each live webinar.

Kym Ahrens, M.D., M.P.H., Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine at Seattle Children’s Hospital and Research Institute and the University of Washington.

Dr. Ahrens has dedicated her clinical and research careers to investigating ways to prevent and mitigate negative health outcomes among youth exposed to early adversity, including and especially systems-involved youth. Her current studies include a National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) HEAL-funded grant to prevent initiation and escalation of opioid use amongst incarcerated juveniles and young adults and a grant to use youth-engaged methods to develop an app supporting healthy relationships amongst transgender and gender-diverse youth. She has also done work developing and evaluating sexual and reproductive health trainings for youth in foster care, as well as foster and kinship caregivers.

Danica Kalling Knight, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Texas Christian University; Associate Director of Research, Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development; Senior Research Scientist at the Institute of Behavioral Research.

Dr. Knight’s research is designed to improve adolescent health and functioning by strengthening relationships with caregivers, family members, and others in their social networks. Her publications focus on identifying factors affecting adolescent recovery from substance use; improving substance use screening, assessment, and treatment services for justice-involved youth; and understanding organizational factors associated with the adoption, implementation, and use of best practices. Dr. Knight currently serves as principal investigator on four NIDA-funded grants, two of which are cooperative agreements under the NIH HEAL Initiative. Her Leveraging Safe Adults project tests the effectiveness of Trust-based Relational Intervention® in preventing substance use among justice-involved youth as they transition home after secure residential care.

Yang Yang, Ph.D., Research Scientist, Institute of Behavioral Research, Texas Christian University.

Dr. Yang is an Experimental Psychologist by training. Dr. Yang has experiences in both laboratory-based studies examining mechanisms underlying various psychosocial and behavioral patterns and applied research exploring prevention and intervention strategies for addressing substance use and related issues. Dr. Yang is interested in two broad areas: prevention and intervention for substance use and psychological functioning central to positive psychology. Dr. Yang has contributed to the field by adopting advanced quantitative and qualitative methodologies to examine the efficacy and implementation of prevention intervention strategies of substance use and to understand risk and protective factors for treatment process and outcomes in justice-involved populations. Dr. Yang has conducted evaluation and intervention studies on positive psychology in general populations and justice-involved women. Dr. Yang has published several peer-reviewed articles and been serving as editor and reviewer for peer-reviewed journals.

Barbara A. Oudekerk, Ph.D., Social Behavioral Scientist Administrator, Prevention Research Branch, NIDA, NIH.

Dr. Oudekerk is the Lead Project Scientist for the HEAL Prevention Initiative, a portfolio of research on the prevention of opioid misuse and use disorder. She also serves as a Program Officer at NIDA overseeing research in community, justice, and social service settings. Prior to joining NIDA, Dr. Oudekerk was a social science statistician in the Victimization Statistics Unit at the Bureau of Justice Statistics, overseeing a range of national data collections including the National Census and Survey of Victim Service Providers and National Crime Victimization Survey. She has published on a range of topics, including adolescent development and transition to adulthood, gender and aggression, peer and romantic relationships, bullying, probation and parole, hate crimes, and violence and victimization.

Carrie Mulford, Ph.D., Deputy Branch Chief, Services Research Branch, NIDA.

Dr. Mulford oversees a range of research projects related to the adoption of evidence-based drug treatment practices, particularly in the justice system and for youth and young adults. Prior to joining NIDA in 2018, Dr. Mulford was a Social Science Analyst in the Office of Research and Evaluation at the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) for 14 years. While at NIJ, she initiated and led research portfolios in elder mistreatment, teen dating violence, and hate crimes. Over the past two decades, Dr. Mulford has been involved with research on juvenile justice, justice-involved young adults, teen dating violence, elder mistreatment, hate crime, and the victim-offender overlap. She has co-authored numerous scholarly articles, primarily focused on violence and victimization across the lifespan. Dr. Mulford has expertise in implementation science, evaluation research, and longitudinal research designs.

For More Information, Contact:

Dr. Barbara Oudekerk at [email protected]