Therapeutic Environment Training Gets Underway

The Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's Therapeutic Training (TET) initiative is now underway. The teams at Dobbs and C.A. Dillon kicked off their first training session on February 27th . Swannanoa and Stonewall Jackson will put into action the TET initiative come the beginning of April while Samarkand begins its training in May.

This month also marked the expansion of the therapeutic environment philosophy throughout the Department with the introduction of TET to court services staff. Chief court counselors, youth development center directors, area administrators, and central office staff attended a meeting in Winston-Salem to discuss the TET initiative and exchange information with one another.

TET will transition current youth development center operations to therapeutic environments for all committed youth and result in the implementation of an environment in which youth receive education and treatment in ways that allow for the development of skill competency and behavior and life changes.

A therapeutic environment involves time, space, and resources which are totally structured so as to provide a constant and consistent therapeutic experience. The environment is the treatment; therefore, every part of every day is planned and implemented to support treatment and development.

The treatment model emphasizes therapeutic interactions between staff and youth and offers a blended education-treatment model to differentiate a youth's progress. The model also encourages family involvement and the building of community connections.