Contributed by Michael McKiernam
At a recent Reentry Summit hosted by the Valley Reentry Partners, Palmer Juvenile Detention Facility Superintendent, Theron Powell, and MY House Executive Director, Michelle Overstreet, teamed up for a panel discussion about Youth Reentry services.
Powell talked about Mat-Su DJJ and the youth served, sharing that the facility has a capacity for 17 youth and has been over capacity since July, sometimes having as many as 21 youth on-site. The majority of the conversation centered around services, with a focus on partnering to prevent recidivism.
Recidivism rates among young offenders are as high as 76% across Alaska and the Nation, however, Overstreet says that the MY House youth recidivism rate is 38%, with 95% of those go back for a substance abuse relapse that is a probation violation, not for additional or new charges. “These youth are not out there stealing cars or robbing banks. They are getting drunk and high. This would indicate that the best thing we can do is provide treatment services along with the DJJ consequences, not just send them back to detention,” says Overstreet. With a recidivism rate at half of the statewide average, they have clients completing treatment programs and staying clean and sober at a rate that is clearly contributing to saving lives.
When asked how MY House achieves such low recidivism rates, Michelle says “we develop relationships with them that are supportive, with wrap around services that help them stay on track, in recovery and motivated to stay out of trouble. We have on-site peer support, through partnerships with CITC and True North Recovery, so they have a person in long term recovery to talk with, go to meetings with and identify relapse triggers that lead back to jail. And the job training programs that provide vocational training through Northern Industrial Training partnership require sobriety and encourage them to continue to pursue their goals and dreams, not get derailed or sabotaged by negative peer groups.”
MY House is not funded by the local Reentry Coalition, by the Department of Corrections or Juvenile Justice, using outside grants, fundraisers and donations to serve the re-entering youth in their programs.
