QUEST Futures is a juvenile mental health initiative that seeks to establish a comprehensive, coordinated response
to youth with mental illness involved in the juvenile justice system in Queens, New York. Here, researcher Josephine
Hahn discusses the findings of an impact
evaluation of the program. (February 2014)SARAH SCHWEIG: Hi, I’m
Sarah Schweig, of the Center for Court Innovation, and today I’m talking with Josy Hahn, the author of new research
about a special program that works with kids with mental illness, who are involved in the juvenile justice system.
The publication, Mental Health and Juvenile Justice, records
the findings of the impact evaluation of QUEST Futures. Thanks for speaking with me today and welcome.
JOSY HAHN: Thanks, Sarah. SARAH SCHWEIG: So, QUEST Futures operates out of a community-based
alternative to detention program. QUEST stands for Queens Engagement Strategies for Teens, so this is in Queens,
New York. And QUEST Futures, specifically, works to engage kids with mental illness and their families in specialized
services. So, now that this program, which was launched in 2008, has been in operation for about five years, maybe
you can start off talking a little bit about the model, what the goal of the program was and the structure, and then
we can get to talking about the evaluation. JOSY HAHN: Absolutely. So the QUEST Futures program
is so important. We know that youth in the juvenile justice system experience mental health illness at really high
rates, up to 70 percent, and that’s compared to 20 to 25 percent of youth in the general population. There is a huge
need, and yet there are very few resources in the juvenile justice system. So, juvenile detention and jail actually
become the default, which is alarming. Here in New York, QUEST was launched by the Center for Court Innovation—and
it was in collaboration with a number of juvenile justice and mental health agencies—and the overarching goal is
to reduce recidivism among youth in the juvenile justice system by addressing mental health needs. And there are
a couple other key features. One is that they engage with families early on in the case: so pre-adjudication phase.
Another is that really comprehensive individualized treatment plan that provides direct services on-site and also
a vast network of referrals. And then finally, the purpose of QUEST Futures is to increase the capacity of the juvenile
justice system to provide alternatives to detention, which is incredibly important. SARAH SCHWEIG:
Maybe give us an idea of what QUEST Futures looks like. JOSY HAHN: So, it’s either through a judicial
mandate, so the judge mandates the program, or a voluntary referral. So in our study, all of the QUEST Futures youth
comes from QUEST ATD referrals. QUEST ATD serves youth with juvenile delinquency cases in the Queens family court,
and they are classified as moderate risk of re-offending, or failure to appear in court. And they are deemed eligible
for community supervision, and that can mean anything from curfew checks and school attendance monitoring, to after
school programming and required services in the community. But in terms of QUEST Futures, every single youth is given
a diagnostic predictive scale, and that’s a mental health instrument that screens for 18 different mental health
disorders—mania, bipolar, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and anxiety. If they flag on the DPS and meet
criteria for impairment, they are eligible to go to QUEST Futures. So there’s an intake set up with QUEST Futures
staff and youth and families. There’s a full bio-psycho-social assessment, and this includes a psychiatric evaluation
and supplemental information from home visits,
