Conferences

Henry Wade Juvenile Justice Center - 2600 Lone Star Drive, Dallas, TX 75212
Phone: (214) 698-2200


Each spring the Dallas County Juvenile Department holds a conference for treatment providers.

 

 

23rd Annual Conference on the Treatment of Juveniles with Sexual Behavior Problems

12 Hours of Continuing Education including 3 Ethics, 6 Offender Specific Hours, and 3 Multicultural Hours

Three Hours Each Session via ZOOM

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Apryl Alexander, Psy.D.

Dr. Apryl Alexander is an Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Professional Psychology at the University of Denver. She is also the Director of the Denver FIRST Juvenile Justice Project, an empirically informed and culturally sensitive trauma treatment program for juvenile justice-involved girls. Her research and clinical work interests include violence and victimization, human sexuality, sexual offending, and trauma-informed and culturally-informed practice. She is an award-winning researcher and her work has been published in several leading journals, including the Journal of Forensic Psychology Practice, Child Maltreatment, Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, and Sexual Abuse. Most recently, she received the 2021 Lorraine Williams Greene Award for Social Justice from Division 18 (Psychologists in Public Service) of the American Psychological Association. Dr. Alexander has been interviewed by numerous media outlets, including The New York Times, USA Today, and NBC Nightly News, about her research and advocacy work.

David Prescott, LCSW

A mental health practitioner of 38 years, David Prescott is the Director of the Safer Society Continuing Education Center. He is the author and editor of 25 books in the areas of understanding and improving services to at-risk clients. He is best known for his work in the areas of understanding, assessing, and treating sexual violence and trauma. Mr. Prescott is the recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Contribution award from the Association for the Treatment and Prevention of Sexual Abuse (ATSA), the 2018 recipient of the National Adolescent Perpetration Network’s C. Henry Kempe Lifetime Achievement award, and the 2022 recipient of the Fay Honey Knopp Award from the New York State Alliance for the Prevention of Sexual Abuse and New York State ATSA. He also served as ATSA President in 2008-09. Mr. Prescott currently trains and lectures around the world. His published work has been translated into Japanese, Korean, German, French, Polish, and Southern Tutchone (an Indigenous language in North America). He has served on the editorial boards of four scholarly journals.

 

 

May 2, 2023
9:00 a.m.—12:00 p.m.

Issues with Sex Offense Registration for Youth
Presented by Dr. Apryl Alexander

It is estimated that over 200,000 people across the United States on currently on the sex offense registry for crimes they committed as children. While it is important to hold youth accountable for their actions, research on the sex offense registry reveals that the registry is ineffective. Moreover, youth on the registry are stuck with a label that leads to collateral consequences for not only themselves, but their families. The presentation will discuss laws surrounding sex offense registration, community notification, and residency restrictions. Further, the presentation will discuss the collateral consequences of placing youth on the registry and needs for policy reform.

May 9, 2023
9:00 a.m.—12:00 p.m.

Naming and Addressing Racial and Historical Trauma
Presented by Dr. Apryl Alexander

From colonial abuses to recent anti-Black and anti-Asian racism and violence, racialized violence is embedded in America. Racial trauma refers traumatic events related to real or perceived experiences of racial discrimination, which can include threats of harm or injury, humiliation, or witnessing harm to minoritized racial/ethnic groups (Carter, 2007; Comas-Díaz et al., 2019). Many of us are working within systems built on historical trauma and systemic and institutional racism, including the juvenile and criminal legal systems, law enforcement, and other forensic and correctional settings. The presentation will discuss how racial trauma affects the mental and physical health of minoritized individuals and communities. Moreover, much of the dialogue on addressing racial trauma discusses how we treat those impacted by racial trauma. If colonialism and white supremacy are the roots of cultural and racial trauma and violence, therapists need to also explore how to address those who inflict racial trauma and racialized violence. This presentation will also discuss therapists’ discomfort in addressing racial trauma and racialized violence with those who engaging in such behaviors.

May 16, 2023
9:00 a.m.—12:00 p.m.

Strategies and Ethical Considerations for Engaging Adolescent Clients
Presented by David Prescott

Clients who have sexually abused sometimes present special challenges for the professionals who treat them. Research has found that adhering to the responsivity principle of effective correctional programming makes treatment more effective, but tailoring treatment to the specific needs of clients is rarely discussed in the literature. This workshop will explore biases that professionals can experience, even beyond their awareness, and the exact components of the working alliance. It explores strategies for preparing for and initiating sessions, setting “approach goals,” and reviews how specific skills eliciting a client’s internal motivation can help make treatment services more effective. Finally, it examines the ethical principles of the helping professions and offers ideas for navigating common ethical dilemmas.

Upon completion of this event, participants will be better able to:

  1. Describe specific biases that can interfere with effective
  2. Explain the use of “approach goals” in treatment
  3. Implement methods for collecting feedback from clients
  4. Explain how Motivational Interviewing elicits the client’s internal motivation

May 23, 2023
9:00 a.m.—12:00 p.m.

The Good Lives Model with Adolescents
Presented by David Prescott

This training will provide information on applying the Good Lives Model (GLM) in work with adolescents whose behaviors have caused harm to others (including sexual and non-sexual violence). The GLM is a strengths-based rehabilitation practice framework that augments the risk, need, and responsivity principles of effective correctional intervention through its focus on assisting clients to develop and implement meaningful life plans that are incompatible with future offending. Originally developed as a rehabilitation framework for use with adults who have harmed others, this workshop focuses on how the GLM—when properly adapted—can be used with adolescents and young men.

Upon completion of this event, participants will be better able to:

  1. Describe the central goals in the Good Lives Model
  2. Explain the linkage between risk factors and approach-oriented treatment goals
  3. Utilize “approach goals” in treatment

Click here for the Registration Form