JUVENILE JUSTICE TRACK

A Transformative Moment for Youth Justice: Perceptions, Practice and Responses to Guns

Tuesday, August 18 | 10:00 AM - 03:00 PM

Hosted by:
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This day-long session will bring together youth justice leaders, probation professionals and system partners to examine the current national landscape of youth justice, challenge common perceptions and misperceptions about youth crime and violence, and explore the practices and system responses that are producing positive outcomes for young people and communities.

Across the country, youth justice systems are operating at a pivotal moment. Public concerns about youth crime and gun violence have intensified, often outpacing what local and national data show. At the same time, many jurisdictions are grappling with difficult questions about how best to respond to young people who carry firearms, how those responses should differ when a firearm is used to threaten or harm others, and what strategies are most effective in reducing violence while promoting positive youth development and community safety.

Throughout the day, participants will engage with data, research and real-world examples that illuminate the distinction between youth gun possession and youth gun use, the factors that drive firearm carrying among young people, and the ways local systems are responding through diversion, prosecution, probation supervision, detention, community-based interventions and specialized programming. Participants will examine how different jurisdictions balance accountability, public safety and adolescent development, and consider what emerging evidence suggests about which approaches are most effective.

The session will also highlight innovative local practices and supports designed to reduce firearm carrying and violence among youth, including violence interruption initiatives, credible messenger programs, cognitive behavioral interventions, intensive mentoring, family-centered services, and other community-based strategies. Participants will have opportunities to learn from jurisdictions that are successfully implementing these approaches and to reflect on how similar strategies might be adapted within their own communities.

Through interactive discussions, peer learning and practical tools, participants will explore how data can help shift public narratives, how local systems can strengthen probation and supervision practices, and how communities can move beyond solely punitive responses toward approaches that improve outcomes for youth while enhancing public safety. The goal is to equip participants with a deeper understanding of current trends, a clearer picture of what is working across the country, and actionable ideas for transforming policy and practice in their own jurisdictions.

Registration for the training institute and pre-registration for this event is required.
More Information Pre-Register Here

Stepping Up for Youth: Making an Impact on the Intersection of Juvenile Justice and Behavioral Health

Monday, August 17 | 01:00 PM - 05:30 PM

Hosted by:
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Nationally, 7 out of 10 youth in detention have a diagnosable mental health condition, compared to only 2 out of 10 youth in the general population. This disparity highlights the role that unmet behavioral health needs play in juvenile justice involvement and signals an urgent need for systems to act.

Stepping Up for Youth helps state and local leaders identify, implement, and expand policies and best practices to safely reduce detention and increase connections to care for young people with serious behavioral health needs who are at risk of being or are in the juvenile justice system.

Through a targeted track at APPA’s Summer Institute, we’ll showcase how this cross-systems approach can improve outcomes for youth and enhance community safety. We invite cross-systems teams to attend this track, including stakeholders from juvenile justice, behavioral health, child welfare, education, and other youth-serving systems.

Presenters:

Felicia Lopez Wright, Project Manager, Behavioral Health, The Council of State Governments Justice Center

Felicia Lopez Wright partners with states and local communities to strengthen their responses and improve outcomes for youth and adults with behavioral health needs who are at risk for, or involved in, the criminal justice system. She also contributes to projects focused on community responder programs, gender-responsive services for women in the justice system, and enhancing crisis and justice system collaborations. Since joining the CSG Justice Center, Felicia has provided tailored training and technical assistance to safely divert people from the justice system and increase access to mental health and substance use treatment. She is a licensed clinical social worker with experience providing mental health therapy to demographically diverse populations in various care settings, special education case management in a public school district, and short-term counseling at a community court program. She earned a BA in psychology from The College of New Jersey and an MSW from Rutgers University.
Stephanie Ueberall, Deputy Program Director, Juvenile Justice, The Council of State Governments Justice Center

Stephanie Ueberall works with states and counties to improve outcomes for youth in the juvenile justice system. Stephanie has also worked to reduce the overuse of jail through initiatives such as Stepping Up and the MacArthur Foundation’s Safety and Justice Challenge. She has extensive experience with youth and families involved in the justice system through direct service, research, technical assistance, and program design. Most recently, Stephanie was the director of violence prevention at the Citizens Crime Commission of New York City, where she worked to enhance community-led youth gun violence prevention. Stephanie holds a BS in psychology from the University of Arizona and an MA in community psychology from the University of New Haven.
Clay McCarter

Clay is the Director of Special Projects/Early Intervention for the Kansas Department of Corrections. Clay has worked in the criminal justice field for the last 15 years with roles ranging from a juvenile corrections officer, juvenile probation officer, and an United States Probation Officer. Clay and his wife will celebrate 10 years of marriage this year and they have two children.
Megan Davidson, Program Director, Behavioral Health, The Council of State Governments Justice Center

Megan Davidson, PhD, is a Program Director in the Behavioral Health Division of the Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center. In this role, she oversees the Stepping Up Initiative, which is a national initiative focused on supporting counties with their efforts to safely reduce the overincarceration of people with behavioral health needs in local jails. She also leads several projects involving juvenile justice, behavioral health, crisis response, and brain injury. Megan has over 15 years of experience leading complex projects involving stakeholder and community engagement, research and evaluation, and technical assistance at the intersection of behavioral health and criminal justice through which she has supported many jurisdictions with the implementation and evaluation of systemic efforts intended to improve outcomes for individuals involved in those systems. Megan earned her PhD in Public Affairs with a Concentration in Criminal Justice from the University of Central Florida.
Marissa Woodmansee, Director, 20th Judicial District Juvenile Services, Barton County, KS

Marissa Woodmansee serves as the Director of the 20th Judicial District Juvenile Services in Kansas and brings more than 25 years of experience in juvenile justice, community case management, and the implementation of evidence-based practices. In her role, she oversees fiscal management, program operations, staff supervision, and strategic partnerships that support positive outcomes for youth and families across her district.

Marissa earned a Bachelor of Sociology from Fort Hays State University with minors in Criminal Justice and Spanish, along with a certification in Leadership Studies. She is passionate about building collaborative partnerships, strengthening communities, and advancing effective, data-informed approaches that improve outcomes for youth.

Beyond her professional role, Marissa has served in numerous community leadership positions, including as a church Elder and Deacon, school board member, and an active partner with the Central Kansas Partnership to support sustainable youth prevention initiatives. She enjoys reading, boxing, hiking, kayaking, and lifelong learning.
Sarah Shenek, Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, Willow Tree Therapy

Sarah Schenek is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor with over 20 years of experience in the social services field. She currently runs a private practice providing mental health services. Her professional background includes roles as an Intensive Supervision Officer in Community Corrections, Juvenile Services prevention specialist, Director of a Child Advocacy Center, forensic interviewer, and foster care case manager. She has extensive experience working with both victims and offenders across a variety of settings.

Sarah holds a Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Capella University and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a minor in Spanish from Samford University. Her areas of expertise include trauma and grief, play therapy with children, and couples and individual counseling. She is also a registered play therapist. She also serves on the USD 428 school board and the Central Kansas Community Corrections Advisory Board.
Jennifer Lighthall, Director of Children and Family Services, Johnson County Mental Health Center, KS

Jennifer Lighthall, LCPC, serves as the Division Director for Children and Family Services at Johnson County Mental Health Center. She holds a master’s degree in counseling from Webster University and is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor.

Jennifer has worked in the mental health field for over 25 years, with extensive experience in community mental health. Over the past 20 years at Johnson County Mental Health Center, she has held multiple clinical and leadership roles. In her current role as Division Director, Jennifer oversees program and clinical operations, guides teams in delivering high impact, mission aligned services across the community and supports teams dedicated to serving children, adolescents, and their caregivers across Johnson County. She partners with internal and external stakeholders to strengthen systems of care, enhance program performance, and ensure responsive services that meet the evolving needs of Johnson County families.
Mike Brouwer M.Ed., Criminal Justice Coordinator, Johnson County, Kansas

Mike Brouwer is the Criminal Justice Coordinator for Johnson County, Kansas, with nearly 30 years of experience in behavioral health and criminal justice systems. He began his career in community mental health, focusing on transition-age youth, and later provided behavioral health services in the Johnson County Adult Detention Center for seven years. He went on to lead reentry services through a federal Second Chance Act grant and continued this work with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, where he helped establish the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council.

Mike served as Douglas County’s Criminal Justice Coordinator before returning to Johnson County in 2021 in the same role. Throughout his career, he has managed multiple Bureau of Justice Assistance grants. He currently serves on the Kansas Governor’s Behavioral Health Services Planning Council and chairs the Justice-Involved Youth and Adults Subcommittee, where he supported development of the Kansas Stepping Up Initiative Technical Assistance Center. He also serves on the Kansas Fights Addiction Board and the Stepping Up Initiative Innovator Counties Steering Committee. Mike is a University of Kansas graduate and remains dedicated to advancing behavioral health, reentry, and justice system improvement efforts.

Part One

Stepping Up for Youth: Defining the Problem and Building a Response

Youth nationwide are facing mental health, education, public safety, and community violence challenges, while public systems struggle to address their needs. At the same time, growing concerns about youth crime and violence have prompted calls for punitive responses, despite research showing that youth with behavioral health needs are overrepresented in the juvenile justice system, and detention and incarceration are often ineffective public safety strategies.

In this session, we’ll outline evidence-based approaches that address youth’s needs effectively in the community while strengthening public safety. Participants will learn how we’ve adapted an adult-focused behavioral health jail diversion model, Stepping Up, for youth and explore key questions jurisdictions can use to strengthen cross-system solutions for youth.

Part Two

Stepping Up for Youth: Solutions in Action

In this session, participants will learn how Kansas identified, implemented, and expanded best practices for improving community-based services, cross-system collaboration, the efficient use of resources, and outcomes for youth with behavioral health needs who experience the juvenile justice system at the state and local levels. State and local leaders will share their experiences, lessons learned, and where they’re headed in their Stepping Up for Youth work. Participants will have dedicated time to identify opportunities for improved cross-system collaboration within their jurisdiction, including outlining when detention is used, what alternatives exist, and how systems collaborate to plan and implement comprehensive approaches to address youth’s risks and needs.

Part Three

Stepping Up for Youth: Implementation Insights

The CSG Justice Center has led Stepping Up—an initiative to address the behavioral health needs of people cycling through jail—for more than a decade in partnership with the National Association of Counties and the American Psychiatric Association Foundation. In that time, Stepping Up has been implemented in 583 counties across 45 states. In this session, CSG Justice Center staff will share implementation lessons learned, prerequisites to success, and critical steps for getting this work off the ground for youth and adults. Participants will have time to discuss and plan how to navigate and advance a cross-systems approach that responds to youth’s needs across a continuum of care and safely reduces the use of detention.

Registration for the training institute and pre-registration for this event is required.
More Information Pre-Register Here