Juvenile Justice Services

Seneca’s services for juvenile justice-involved youth focus on providing early intervention support, trauma-informed mental health services, and linkages to community resources to stabilize and sustain young people within their communities.

We partner with judges, probation officers, social workers, teachers and school administrators, and other child-serving professionals to help address trauma, heal family disruptions, employ harm reduction strategies, and build positive coping skills. Our juvenile justice services include the following models:

• Multi-Systemic Therapy (MST): MST is an intensive therapeutic approach serving adolescents who have been or are at risk of involvement in the justice system. MST is an evidence-based practice that involves the entire family and addresses multiple systems (including home, school, peers, and community) to improve the functioning of the family system and promote prosocial behaviors. Seneca has been an MST provider for more than 20 years and provides MST in San Francisco and Alameda Counties in California.
• Intensive Case Management (ICM): Seneca’s ICM team assesses a young person’s strengths, risk factors, and behavioral health needs that may put them at risk of involvement with law enforcement. We help the family create an individualized action plan to address any critical factors through coaching, connection to resources, and enrollment in community support services. Seneca’s ICM staff are part of the multidisciplinary team that facilitates the juvenile mental health court in Alameda County, California. Seneca provides ICM in Alameda and Sonoma Counties in California.
• Keeping Kids in School (KKIS): KKIS is a program based in Sonoma, California, that provides on-campus interventions. This includes case management, training for school staff, and activities to boost student attendance, with the goal of reducing truancy and improving educational outcomes for students who are identified at risk of entering the juvenile justice system.
• Juvenile Justice Assessment Team (JJAT): In partnership with the Ryther Center for Children and Youth in King County, Washington, Seneca conducts mental health assessments and provides referrals and resources to divert youth with behavioral needs from further involvement in the juvenile justice system.