§ 16-2404A — TEEN EARLY INTERVENTION MENTAL HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE SPECIALIST PROGRAM

(1) The department of health and welfare shall be authorized to contract for teen early intervention specialists to work with teens at risk and their families in school districts.
(2) The teen early intervention specialist shall be a certified counselor or a social worker with a clinical background in mental health or substance abuse as prescribed by the department of health and welfare by rule.
(3) The salary paid to the teen early intervention specialist shall be equivalent to the salary paid to comparably trained and experienced individuals employed by the school district in the region in which the community resource is employed.
(4) Teen early intervention specialists shall work with individual teens at risk to offer group counseling, recovery support, suicide prevention and other mental health and substance abuse counseling services to teens as needed, regardless of mental health diagnosis.
(5) By permission of school administrators, as prescribed in rule, teens at risk not currently enrolled in a public school may, if assigned by a judge, participate in group or individual teen early intervention specialist counseling sessions or services for teens at risk as appropriate.
(6) School districts seeking to have one (1) or more teen early intervention specialists placed within its district may apply to the department of health and welfare for such placement. The department of health and welfare shall establish by rule a simple application process and criteria for placement of teen early intervention specialists in districts. The number of teen early intervention specialists placed in school districts in any given year shall be limited by the funds appropriated to the teen early intervention specialist program in that fiscal year. In evaluating applications for the three (3) year pilot project, the department of health and welfare shall give special consideration to rural districts and shall consider:
(a) The demonstrated need for mental health and substance abuse counseling and treatment for teens at risk in the school district;
(b) The resources and cooperation which the school district has proposed to contribute to the support of the teen early intervention specialist program for teens at risk; and
(c) The funding appropriated to the teen early intervention specialist program for teens at risk.
(7) Through an initial three (3) year period beginning at the start of the 2008 school year, the department of health and welfare shall work with local school districts where teen early intervention specialists have been placed to gather data on the effectiveness of this program. This data may be gathered and tracked through cooperative projects with Idaho colleges and universities and may include, but not be limited to:
(a) Impacts on the number and nature of teen arrests;
(b) Reductions in the number of teen suicides and suicide attempts;
(c) Changes in patterns of teen incarceration or involvement with Idaho’s juvenile justice system;
(d) Impacts on local caseloads of practitioners in the department of health and welfare;
(e) Where applicable, impacts to juvenile mental health or drug courts;
(f) Changes in academic achievement by teens at risk and by those participating in the teen early intervention specialist program; and
(g) Changes in the number and nature of student disciplinary actions in schools where teen early intervention specialists have been placed.

Legislative History

[16-2404A, added 2007, ch. 309, sec. 3, p. 872.]