Youth Justice Intervention Programmes

An integrated residential programme was developed for the Youth Justice facility in Auckland. It provided a timely opportunity to integrate programme design and staff training with the opening of the new residence. The programme design was also made available for use in current or future Youth Justice residences.

What do we know about these young people?

Young persons placed at the youth justice residence are likely to be affected by a range of factors including exclusion from normal peer groups, problematic family relationships, educational failure, participation in deviant peer groups and offending activity. While there have been many reviews of intervention and treatment programmes for this client group, the literature is consistent in reporting that the majority of treatments have very little effect.

Individual casework which forms the basis of current intervention with young people currently placed in Child Youth & Family residences is reported in the literature to have an effect of 10% or less.

We also know the following issues are common amongst the youth offending population:

• Previously offended – increasing severity, opportunity
• Often impulsive
• Learnt behaviours
• Haven’t been cherished by whanau
• Variations in level of cognitive development
• Urban/rural
• Abuse – intergenerational abuse/offending
• Extensive levels of freedom
• Complex situations
• Health – mental health issues
• Maori and Pacific Island decent
• Survival, surviving
• Foetal alcohol syndrome
• High expectations – frustrations, failure, entitlement
• Alcohol and drug – dependence
• Identity/attachment issues
• Not okay experience of touch
• Absent fathers
• Absent role models
• Trauma
• High or low self esteem
• Social skills – peer relationships
• Shameful
• Victim empathy low
• Street smarts
• Gang affiliation

Any programme design therefore needs to:

• engage with the young person (design and delivery need to fit)
• challenge is to create mental agility and emotional resilience
• link to research around emotional intelligence which indicates the ability to delay gratification
• be physically based activities and lifestyle balance is important
• encourage self discipline and an ability to say ‘no’ to peers is a key indicator of long-term change
• have a clear after-care plan with links to maintenance programmes needs to be in place
• provide inoculation to anti-social influences of families and peers
• be team based activities work best for youth
• incorporate high energy activities
• use significant variability in approaches
• maintian integrity and quality of what people are doing under the title of ‘programmes’. This is evidenced in the range of programmes currently being implemented in ad-hoc ways in the three youth justice residences.

HMA was involved in developing a modular programme for use for young people in residential centres throughout New Zealand. The modules are broken into three areas: Remand, Social Skills, and Sentenced.

Social Skills Modules

• Communication
• Parenting
• Self esteem
• Self identity
• Assertiveness
• Values clarification

Remand

• Motivational enhancement
• Cognitive Skills
• Alcohol & drug (information)
• Youth Justice Processes
• Perspective taking

Sentenced to supervision with residence

• Offence mapping
• Thinking skills
• Mood management
• Victim empathy
• Managing peers
• Managing living situations
• Relapse prevention skills

Additional modules designed:

• Anger management/violence prevention
• Advanced alcohol and drug