Corrections_Today_Summer_2025_Vol.87_No.2

OFFICE OF CORRECTIONAL HEALTH

Ask the Doc Suicide prevention in juvenile reentry programs By Dr. Dean Aufderheide

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Dear Dr. Dean, can I do to make sure I am using the best practices for suicide prevention in our juvenile reentry program? — A.R. in Michigan Q: I am the Director of an agency that coordinates with our state’s juvenile justice system to provide reentry services. Last year, our program experienced an increase in the number of adolescent deaths by suicide. What

critical time for suicide prevention. Com pounding the problem, adolescents in deten tion have a likelihood of two to three times higher for post-trau matic stress disorder (PTSD) than their peers. Formal and stan dardized procedures that are considered

Correctional Facilities, 5 th Edi tion, 2023), but implementation of evidence-based suicide prevention practices varies across juvenile legal system practice settings. Since your challenges are associ ated with suicide risk post-release from a detention center, I recom mend you start with creating a Sequential Intercept Model (SIM) for mapping potential touch points that increase suicide risk. Intersections of time, place, and situations can serve as unique points for intervention for adoles cents across your reentry program. Best practices include: 1) periodic screenings using valid suicide risk assessment instruments (e.g. the Columbia Suicide Severity Risk Scale); 2) providing safety planning and lethal means counseling; 3) culturally receptive family engage ment; 4) trauma-informed care for individuals with PTSD and; 5) developing supportive networks that foster resilience. Adopting these best practices can facilitate a preventative and early inter vention approach to suicide risk management.

Dear A.R., A

dolescents involved in the juvenile legal system have suicide rates up to

best practices for juvenile legal system-involved adolescents are only recently emerging (e.g. the American Correctional Associa tion’s Performance-Based Standards and Expected Practices for Juvenile

three times higher compared to non-involved adolescents, making community reentry from detention a

Adobe Stock/Ermolaev Alexandr

Corrections Today | Summer 2025

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