By Tony Jamieson*<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Young people in youth detention centres<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In Queensland there are over 250 beds between\nthe existing two youth detention centres in Brisbane and Townsville, with a\nthird centre currently being constructed that will bring the total beds to just\nunder 300.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Young people who spend time at these\nyouth detention centres, do so because they have been found guilty of\ncommitting offences, or are remanded until their offences have been heard by a\ncourt. As such there are many people who are victims of their offending\nbehaviour. Yet what is not widely discussed is that many of those young people\nare victims themselves, because they have been subjected to a range of\ntraumatic events. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr Stephen Stathis (Stathis et al.,\n2008), psychiatrist and Medical Director with Queensland Health, describes\nthese young people as being among the most disadvantaged youth in Queensland. Stathis\net al., (2008) say that they are vulnerable for several reasons, including \u201c\u2026 chronic\nsocial, family or educational adversity, and a history of traumatic life events\u201d,\n(p.1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr Stathis and his colleagues conducted an initial study in 2008 with 164 young\npeople at the Brisbane Youth Detention Centre, which showed high levels of mental\nhealth challenges in that environment, that were indicative of trauma (75% of\nboys and 90% of girls). That study used the MAYSI-2 (Massachusetts Youth\nScreening Instrument – Version 2; McCoy et al., 2016), which is a screening\ntool to determine mental health concerns for young people. Concerned that the\nMAYSI-2 may not be a valid tool for Indigenous youth, they conducted a follow\nup study in 2012 with 47 Indigenous young people and used the Westerman\nAboriginal Symptom Checklist \u2013 Youth Version (Westerman, 2003). Even higher\nlevels of trauma were found in the follow-up study (94% of boys and 100% of\ngirls). <\/p>\n\n\n\n What is trauma?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n There are many definitions of trauma and it should be noted that trauma\nas a broad concept refers to many things, including natural disasters,\naccidents and brain injury. The aspects of trauma referred to here are of an\ninterpersonal nature. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA, 2014)\nin the USA refer to trauma using the Three E\u2019s definition: Events, Experience\nand Effects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The first E refers to events <\/em>and conditions where there is actual,\nperceived or threatened harm (i.e. it does not have to be actual harm), which\nmay occur only once or, or it may occur repeatedly; predictably the more that\nharm occurs, the worse is the trauma. Trauma events include: verbal, physical\nand sexual abuse, emotional and physical neglect, domestic violence, parental\nseparation or divorce, parental mental illness, parental incarceration,\nparental drug and\/or alcohol use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The experience<\/em> of those events means that each individual\u2019s\nreaction to trauma is unique, and the course and duration of that experience cannot\nbe predicted. That is, it should not be expected that someone gets over trauma\nin a particular way or time. There are also the undesirable Effects <\/em>of\nthat trauma, which can be short or long-term, immediate or delayed. Those\neffects include: being more reactive and volatile, having sleep and\nself-regulation difficulties, having few healthy relationships, a reduced\nattention span, rigid thinking and behaviour patterns, reduced social skills,\npoor self-identity, depression, anxiety and suicidality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What is the link between trauma and offending?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Miller (2014) identified that there are a number of common environmental\nand neuropsychological factors that are shared by young people with trauma\nhistories, who go onto become long-term offenders. The environmental factors\ninclude: family members with histories of offending behaviour, domestic\nviolence, and child abuse. The neuropsychological factors include: \u201clow verbal\nIQ, poor academic and vocational achievement, hyperactivity, impulsivity,\nsubstance abuse, and neuropsychological anomalies\u201d (Miller, 2014, p. 123). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Olafson et al., (2016) refer to the impact of such trauma as a breach of\nthe social contract with the child, which leads to a strongly negative\ninfluence on the young person\u2019s engagement with societal rules, family and\nwork. Lujan and Fanniff (2018) discuss the breach of the social contract in terms\nof there being a link between the various impacts of trauma on young people and\ntheir perceptions of fairness, which in turn results in offending behaviour.\nThat is, young people believe that the world has treated them unfairly and they\nrespond in kind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Trauma and youth detention centres<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The youth detention centre environment has\nthe potential to reinforce trauma. Pickens (2016) says that when a traumatised\nyoung people enters a youth detention centre for the first time s\/he often\nexperiences a strong sense of hyper-vigilance. This is due to their usual sense\nof danger being further heightened by finding him\/herself in an unfamiliar\nenvironment, coupled with their ongoing struggles to minimise any trauma\nreminders. Both factors can create an agitated atmosphere for the young person,\nwhich may result in him\/her feeling that there is danger in the environment,\nand responding with either physical aggression, or conversely with physical and\nemotional distance from others, in an attempt to feel safe. Should the\nenvironment actually be unsafe, as is sometimes the case, the young person\u2019s\nconcerns will be validated (Barron & Tracey, 2018; Fasulo et al., 2015; Pickens, 2016). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Further complicating this picture is\nthat some young people enter youth detention with a long-term exposure to\nviolence, which has seen them become psychologically numb when violence occurs.\nThis response has the unfortunate outcome of increasing their likelihood of\nbehaving violently themselves, while shielding them from any emotional\nresponse, such as remorse (Abram et al., 2004; Ford & Blaustein, 2013;\nQuinn et al., 2017).<\/p>\n\n\n\n How might a trauma-informed approach\nhelp?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Given all of the above information, Rapp (2016) argues that there is cause\nto be at least looking at approaches informed by trauma in the youth detention\nspace. Advocates of trauma-informed approaches (e.g., Pickens, 2016; Joiner\n& Buttell, 2018; Walsh et al, 2018) argue that young people who are trauma\nvictims are not to blame for that victimisation, but they bear the burden of\nthe consequences of the resulting trauma. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Being trauma-informed means that organisations (including youth detention\ncentres) that work with traumatised young people need to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is fair to say that youth detention centres already attempt to provide\ntrauma-related responses e.g., through the provision of mental health and case\nwork supports, but this does not occur in a coordinated or comprehensive\nfashion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trauma-Informed Care<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) offers a potential response for that lack of\ncoordination and comprehensiveness. TIC is a strengths-based framework that is\nresponsive to the impact of trauma, emphasising physical, psychological,\nemotional and cultural safety and creates opportunities for young people to\nrebuild a sense of empowerment and choice. It is grounded in and directed by a\nthorough understanding of the neurological, biological, psychological and\nsocial effects of trauma and interpersonal violence and the prevalence of these\nexperiences (Bateman et al., 2013; Hopper et al., 2009).<\/p>\n\n\n\n TIC has been discussed as being an approach that reconceives the\nway that human services are delivered, whereby all aspects of service delivery\nare organised around the recognition, acknowledgement and prevalence of trauma\n(Kezelman & Stavropoulos, 2012). Advocates say that the overall\nreason for a TIC approach is that it has the potential to positively change the\nentire environment in the Youth Justice system, providing young people and\nstaff with skills for predicting and managing traumatic stress and secondary trauma\nimpacts. A TIC focus has the potential to allow the system to adopt an approach\nthat is safer and more therapeutic than other options that have a more punitive\nintent, such as isolation rooms in youth detention (Elwyn et al., 2015; Roy et\nal., 2019). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Publicly available documents released by each Australian jurisdiction\n(including Queensland) to the Australasian Youth Justice Administrators make\nclaims that all jurisdictions are delivering trauma-informed responses in one\nform or another (AYJA, 2019). However to what extent these responses can be\nconsidered as a system-wide response as outlined by experts such as Kezelman and\nStavropoulos (2012), is ambiguous. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There is little research on TIC in Youth Justice in Australia, so this researcher\nwill be investigating whether it is feasible to implement TIC in a youth\ndetention centre and what a good practice model might look like. Further posts\nwill follow, as the research takes shape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n *Tony Jamieson is a PhD candidate and sessional tutor in the Griffith Criminology Institute Abram, K.M., Teplin, L.A., Charles,\nD.R., Longworth, S.L., McClelland, G.M., & Dulcan, M.K. (2004). Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and\nTrauma in Youth in Juvenile Detention. Archives\nof General Psychiatry<\/em>, 61<\/em>(April\n2004), 403-410.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Atkinson, J., Nelson, J., Brooks, R.,\nAtkinson, C., & Ryan, K. (2014). Addressing Individual and Community\nTransgenerational Trauma. In P. Dudgeon, H. Milroy & R. Walker (Eds.). Working Together Aboriginal and Torres\nStrait Islander mental health and wellbeing principles and practice <\/em>(pp.\n289-302). West Perth: Kulunga Research Network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Australasian Youth Justice\nAdministrators. (2019b). Jurisdictional\nComparison of Youth Justice Reforms – AYJA Circulation<\/em>.\nCanberra, Australia: Australasian Youth Justice Administrators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Barron, I., & Tracey, J.K. (2018).\nQuasi-Qualitative Evaluation of Progressive Counting in Secure Accommodation in\nScotland: an Exploratory Cluster Case Study. Journal of Child Adolescent Trauma<\/em>, 11<\/em>(3), 305-315.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bateman, J., Henderson, C., &\nKezelman, C. (2013). Trauma-Informed Care\nand Practice: Towards a cultural shift in policy reform across mental health\nand human services in Australia, A National Strategic Direction, Position Paper\nand Recommendations of the National Trauma-Informed Care and Practice Advisory\nWorking Group<\/em>. Sydney, Australia: Mental Health Coordinating Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n DeHart,\nD.D., & Moran, R. (2015). Poly-victimization among girls in the justice\nsystem: trajectories of risk and associations to juvenile offending. Violence Against Women, 21<\/em>(3), 291-312.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Elwyn, L. J., Esaki, N., & Smith,\nC.A. (2015). Safety at a girls secure juvenile justice facility. Therapeutic\nCommunities: The International Journal of\nTherapeutic Communities, 36<\/em>(4), 209-218.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fasulo, S.J., Ball, J., Jurkovic, G.,\n& Miller, A.L. (2015). Towards the Development of an Effective Working\nAlliance: The Application of DBT Validation and Stylistic Strategies in the\nAdaptation of a Manualized Complex Trauma Group Treatment Program for\nAdolescents in Long-Term Detention. American\nJournal of Psychotherapy<\/em>, 69<\/em>(2),\n219-239.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Flocks, J. Calvin, E., Chriss, S.,\n& Prado-Steiman, M. (2017). The Case for Trauma-Informed, Gender-Specific\nPrevention\/Early Intervention Programming in Reducing Female Juvenile\nDelinquency in Florida. Northwestern\nJournal of Law and Social Policy, 12<\/em>(2), 1-45.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ford, J.D. & Blaustein, M.E.\n(2013). Systemic Self-Regulation: A Framework for Trauma-Informed Services in\nResidential Juvenile Justice Programs. Journal\nof Family Violence, 28<\/em>(7), 665-677.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hopper,\nE.K., Bassuk, E.L., & Olivet, J. (2009). Shelter from the Storm:\nTrauma-Informed Care in Homelessness Services Settings. The Open Health Services and Policy Journal, 2<\/em>, 131-151.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Joiner, V.C., & Buttell, F.P.\n(2018). Investigating the usefulness of trauma-focused cognitive behavioral\ntherapy in adolescent residential care. Journal\nEvidence-Informed Social Work, 15<\/em>(4), 457-472.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kerns, S.E.U., Pullmann, M.D., Negrete,\nA., Uomoto, J.A., Berliner, L., Shogren, D., \u2026 Putnam, B. (2016). Development\nand Implementation of a Child Welfare Workforce Strategy to Build a\nTrauma-Informed System of Support for Foster Care. Child Maltreatment, 21<\/em>(2), 135-146.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kezelman, C.A., & Stavropoulos,\nP.A. (2012). Practice Guidelines for\nTreatment of Complex Trauma and Trauma Informed Care and Service Delivery<\/em>.\nSydney, Australia: Adults Surviving Child Abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lujan, M.J.W.M., & Fanniff, A.M.\n(2018). Justice for All: Trauma and the Need for Safety and Fairness Within\nJuvenile Justice Facilities. Criminal\nJustice and Behavior, 46<\/em>(1), 63-81.<\/p>\n\n\n\n McCoy, H., Leverso, J., & Bowen,\nE.A. (2016). What the MAYSI-2 Can Tell Us About Anger-Irritability and Trauma. International Journal of Offender Therapy\nand Comparative Criminology, 60<\/em>(5), 555-574.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Miller, L. (2014). Juvenile crime and\njuvenile justice: Patterns, models, and implications for clinical and legal\npractice. Aggression and Violent\nBehavior, 19<\/em>(2), 122-137. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Olafson, E., Halladay-Goldman, J.,\n& Gonzalez, C. (2016). Trauma-Informed Collaborations Among Juvenile\nJustice and Other Child-Serving Systems: An Update. Journal of Juvenile Justice, 5<\/em>(1), 1-13.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pickens, I. (2016). Laying the\nGroundwork: Conceptualizing a Trauma-Informed System of Care in Juvenile\nDetention. Journal of Infant, Child, and\nAdolescent Psychotherapy, 15<\/em>(3), 220-230.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Quinn, K., Pacella, M.L.,\nDickson-Gomez, J., & Nydegger, L.A. (2017). Childhood Adversity and the\nContinued Exposure to Trauma and Violence Among Adolescent Gang Members. American Journal of Community Psychology, 59<\/em>(1-2),\n36-49.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rapp, L. (2016). Delinquent-Victim\nYouth-Adapting a Trauma-Informed Approach for the Juvenile Justice System. Journal of Evidence-Informed Social Work, 13<\/em>(5),\n492-497.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Roy, C., Castonguay, A., Fortin, M.,\nDrolet, C., Franche-Choquette, G., Dumais, A. \u2026 & Geoffrion, S. (2019). The\nUse of Restraint and Seclusion in Residential Treatment Care for Youth: A\nSystematic Review of Related Factors and Interventions. Trauma Violence & Abuse<\/em>, 1-21.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stathis, S., Letters, P., Doolan, I.,\nFleming, R., Heath, K., Arnett, A., & Cory, S. (2008). Use of the\nMassachusetts Youth Screening Instrument to assess mental health problems in\nyoung people within an Australian youth detention centre. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, 44<\/em>, 438-443. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Substance Abuse and Mental Health\nServices Administration (SAMHSA). (2014). SAMHSA\u2019s\nConcept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach. <\/em>Retrieved\nfrom https:\/\/store.samhsa.gov\/shin\/content\/.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\nReferences<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n