With the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) realignment, County probation departments will assume care for juvenile offenders of the most severe offenses. As a result, Contra Costa Probation is expecting an increase in volume and intensity of mental health treatment needs in Contra Costa Juvenile Detention facilities and in the community. Many of the youth will require providers to be familiar with specialty treatment protocols, such as sexual offender treatment, which necessitates the development of new programming. Contra Costa Probation Department approached Contra Costa Behavioral Health Services to increase service capacity and develop new programming.  
  
The Mental Health Clinical Specialist position will be responsible to coordinate youth transition plans with deputy probation officers prior to release, provide sex offender treatment on site, will address a present void in the clinical services to enable the program to meet the increasing service needs, and facilitate transition meetings for youth exiting the Youthful Offender Treatment Program, Girls in Motion, and the Orin Allen Youth Rehabilitation Facility. The Mental Health Program Supervisor position will assist with the administrative and clinical oversight of the mental health program at Juvenile Hall, assist in the development and clinical oversight of Juvenile Hall’s new program for serious offenders, provide effective clinical intervention both individually and as a group, will be a liaison or will monitor for community-based programs that are serving youth with special treatment consideration, and will assist in the expansion of service provision that will include trauma-informed care, on-site sex offender treatment, and crisis management.