Monitoring and Evaluation

(90 minutes)

Anecdotal stores of success are rewarding but insufficient to optimize program outcomes. An effective program monitoring and evaluation process enables Justice and Treatment partnerships to identify limitations, needs, challenges and success. Experts will explain how monitoring and evaluation can be utilized to optimize program success.

Moderator: Arla Liska

Speakers: Michael Weinrath, Irene Hoffart, Hannah Scot

Drug Treatment Court Program: Evolution and Evaluation

Laura Day and Sarah Pichut

Experts from the Toronto Drug Treatment Court (TDTC) program explain how the TDTC has been working through an evolutionary process to redefine success. With the clear understanding that Substance Use is a symptom which is highly influenced by factors such as social determinants of health, the TDTC has sought to “re-define success”, recognizing the role that factors such as poverty, stigma/discrimination, trauma, brain injuries and homelessness pay as contributing factors. The TDTC program has sought to respond to the evidence regarding substance use, treatment and trauma, the increasing complexities that our client population bring to the program, the increasingly dangerous drug supply, and emerging harm reduction strategies while continuing to serve clients who are deemed to be high risk and high needs. This process has produced both minor and significant changes in what experts consider to be a malleable, client-centred environment and culture.

The main learning objectives of this presentation are:

Learn about the changes made, reasons for the changes and changes yet to come

Learn about the new evaluation framework and early results

Laura Day

Laura Day has been a social worker at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health for 13 years. She has spent most of her career advocating for alternatives to incarceration for people with mental health and addictions in the Toronto Drug Treatment Court. She runs a specialized stream for women in the Toronto Drug Treatment Court. She is a passionate believer in the principles of harm reduction. She holds a Master of Social Work from the University of Toronto.

Sarah Pichut

Sarah Pichut has worked as a Counselor/Therapist at CAMH (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health) for nearly 2 decades in a variety of programs. For the past 4 years she has been with Toronto’s DTC (Drug Treatment Court), which feels like home. As a Registered Social Worker and Registered Psychotherapist, Sarah is passionate about supporting people through their struggles with addiction, mental health, and the justice system, with the understanding that a trauma-informed, client-centered, holistic approach is necessary to help this population meet their goals and define success.

Evaluating a Mental Health Screening Process in a Youth Criminal Court

Dr. Michele Peterson-Badali and Aminah Chambers

Researchers discuss the preliminary results of evaluations of two court programs for youth with mental health needs: a systematic mental health screening program and a youth mental health court. They identify program strengths and recommend practices that support youths’ access to services to address their needs.

Dr. Michele Peterson-Badali

Michele Peterson-Badali is a professor in the Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. She has taught in the areas of professional psychology ethics, child psychological assessment, and children, psychology and the law. Her research examines issues in youth criminal justice psychology. Current projects focus on effective assessment and intervention for justice system-involved youth mental health. In addition to scholarly dissemination of her work, Dr. Peterson-Badali is actively engaged in bringing her research findings into the spheres of public policy and practice; she has conducted research and provided policy consultation for Canada's Department of Justice, provided consultation and training to various youth courts and probation offices, and served as an expert witness for the Ontario Advocate for Children and Youth.

​Aminah Chambers

Aminah Chambers is a PhD candidate in the Youth Justice Lab under the supervision of Dr. Michele Peterson-Badali at the University of Toronto/OISE. Her research interests are in the area of adolescent mental health and improving outcomes for justice-involved youth. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, her research focuses on examining court processes for youth and their families who encounter the justice system, and ways that courts can identify and address the complex needs of youth with mental health issues. She is also interested in identifying factors that contribute to justice system outcome disparities for marginalized youth, and identifying risk and strength factors for criminal offending in justice-involved girls and women.