Porter County has expanded its problem-solving courts to include a mental health court for teens, the first of its kind in the state.
“You just see an explosion in anxiety and depression right now, and especially the social phobias,” said Alison Cox, the county’s director of juvenile detention services and the court’s administrator, adding much of that stems from isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic, and “that’s across the board in all problem solving courts.”, 46.9% of high school students in the state reported feeling sad or hopeless for more than two weeks in 2021; that figure was 29.3% in 2015.
Cox is seeing an uptick in the Juvenile Detention Center as well, and in referrals being evaluated by probation officers. “It’s very informal,” DeBoer said, adding she doesn’t wear the robe she has for court. Cox added it’s “a roundtable approach,” with participants sitting around a table while a court reporter takes notes.
The program received a provisional certificate from the state to operate in February, when it enrolled two teens for a pilot program, DeBoer said. The mental health court focuses on youth with significant mental health issues who have been referred to the juvenile justice system, but for whom traditional means of probation supervision have not been successful, DeBoer said. The court seeks to limit youth with mental illness from continued involvement in the juvenile justice system by providing them with treatment, community resources and accountability.
She clarified that she isn’t saying they would be rejected from the program, since a teen with mental health issues might do something horrific and could benefit from the court.
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