June 9, 2005 – Supportive Housing Conference
CASES’ Director of Technical Assistance and Mental Health Policy,Ann-Marie Louison, presented a panel at the fifth annual New York
State Supportive Housing Conference. The Supportive Housing Network of New York represents the provider community that has created
housing for low-income and formerly homeless individuals statewide. Ms. Louison presented at a session entitled “Supportive Housing and the Criminal Justice System”. Shespoke about the relationship between justice system involvement and homelessness as well as the increasing need for supportive housing to assist chronically homeless, court-involved individuals. The workshop presented examples of how supportive housing providers are working within the criminal justice system to serve court-involved individuals and offered strategies for how providers can better serve a forensic, mentally ill population.
April 30, 2005- Physicians for Human Rights Conference
CASES’ Senior Planner, Rebecca Brown, and Programs Assistant,Amy Pete, presented a workshop at a juvenile justice conference
co-sponsored by Physicians for Human Rights and Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. The conference, “Beyond These Walls: Promoting Health and Human Rights in Juvenile Justice,” focused upon the intersection of law and health within the juvenile justice system. Presented to health professionals as well as social work and law students, the workshop described the Court Employment Project (CEP), CASES’ alternative to incarceration program for court-involved youth. Ms. Brown and Ms. Pete provided an overview of the Family Court and a description of CEP’s program model, with special attention to services for youth with mental health problems, and discussed the necessity of providing supportive services to court-involved young people as they remain in their communities.
April 22, 2005- Community Outreach Services Conference
CASES’ Support Services Coordinator, Alex Rosado, presented at
the Annual Outreach Services Meeting of the Office of Community Outreach
Services of The New York Public Library. The conference,
entitled, "Inside/Out, Serving the Needs of the Incarcerated and Ex-Inmates," addressed
the special needs of the incarcerated and ex-offenders.
Mr. Rosado
spoke about the special needs of chronic misdemeanor populations.
April 14, 2005- Forensic Conference at Fordham University
The Mosaic Program’s Director, Gisele Castro, presented a workshop at Fordham University’s conference entitled “Forensic Social Work: Adolescents and the Legal System.” Ms. Castro’s workshop, “Mosaic: CASES’ Alternative to Placement Program for Young Offenders in the New York City Courts” provided an overview of our Family Court program for young offenders, a description of our team model approach, and an explanation of the services we offer. Also highlighted was the partnership between CASES and the New York City Department of Probation, essential to successful community-based supervision of court-involved youth.
December 5-8, 2004- Truancy Conference
CASES’ Ana Bermudez, co-Director of the Community Prep High School, was a presenter at a workshop entitled, “Interagency Collaboration to Promote Reentry,” at a national conference, co-sponsored by the US Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and the US Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools. The conference, which focused on combating truancy, convened a wide range of government agencies, organizations and practitioners who employ a variety of techniques to reengage students in their education. Ms. Bermudez’s workshop focused upon the reentry challenges facing court-involved youth. Often overage and undercredited, court-involved students face bureaucratic, systemic and educational barriers as they attempt to transition back into school. CASES’ Community Prep High School was highlighted as an illustration of a successful collaborative partnership between a public school system and a community-based partner. The workshop also provided an opportunity for Ms. Bermudez to share CASES’ success in employing evidence-based practices, such as the youth development model, in an alternative learning environment.
November 29-December 3, 2004- 2004 New Judges Orientation
Joel Copperman, CASES’ Chief Executive Officer, led a panel for New York State’s newly-elected, newly-appointed and newly-assigned judges on “Sentencing and Alternatives to Incarceration” in Criminal Court. The procedural law session introduced judges to the benefits of utilizing alternative to incarceration programs while providing them with practical sentencing information.
November 13, 2004- DoE Retreat
Citing their outstanding leadership, CASES’ Community Prep High School’s (CPHS) Co-Directors, Ana Bermudez and Mark Ryan, were invited to present a workshop at a retreat for community-based organizations that partner with New York City’s Department of Education. Part of a summit organized by New Visions for Public Schools, the workshop focused upon the efficacy of the co-governance model employed by CPHS, which delivers both academic and social support services to its students through a partnership between CASES and DoE.
November 10, 2004- OMH Seminar
CASES’ Director of Mental Health Programs, Rowland Hill, was a presenter at a seminar at the Columbia University School of Social Work on mental health research. One of a series, the seminar was part of an initiative of the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH), which partnered with social work graduate schools statewide to raise awareness of the importance of implementing evidence-based practices into mental health treatment. Assembling policymakers, scholars, students and service providers, the seminar provided a context for a cross-pollination of ideas and discussion of best practices. Mr. Hill shared his experiences in applying evidence-based practices to CASES’ programs, particularly as they related to his work with an Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) team as well as motivational interviewing.
September 22, 2004 - TAPA Conference
CASES’ Director of Technical Assistance and
Mental Health Policy,
Ann-Marie Louison, was one of three experts featured
in a tele/net conference, “Strategies
for Effectively Integrating Consumers as Staff and Experts into Jail
Diversion Programs,” hosted by the Technical Assistance and Policy
Analysis (TAPA) Center on September 22, 2004. The TAPA Center,
a branch of the National GAINS Center, aims to divert court-involved
individuals with co-occurring disorders from jail into community-based
treatment. The role of the peer specialist was built into the program
design of each of CASES’ three mental health programs, Nathaniel
Homeless, ACT, and EXIT. Instrumental in the planning of CASES’ mental
health programs, Ms. Louison was invited to lend her expertise to other
practitioners who seek to create a role for consumers in their mental
health programs for a forensic population.
In addition to sharing
the successes and challenges of incorporating consumer staff into jail
diversion programs, Ms. Louison and other panelists offered specific
advice on the recruitment, hiring, and training of peer specialists.