CYN Counseling Center

Program Overview and Background

Community Youth Network (CYN) expanded its current Therapeutic Mentoring program for Justice-Involved youth to include youth who are impacted by opioids and other drug misuses. CYN’s current Therapeutic Mentoring program serves youth 11-17 years of age from Lake County, Illinois. The 19th judicial circuit court, Division of Juvenile Probation/Detention Services (Juvenile Court), and the Lake County, IL State’s Attorney’s Office are partners in this program, providing mentoring referrals and collaborating on case coordination. Through this grant, CYN will expand its partnership with Nicasa Behavioral Health, an accredited substance use treatment organization, in order to effectively address the needs of youth impacted by opioids and other drug misuses through an array of services tailored to meet the needs of the youth and the family. CYN’s program seeks to provide equity to youth in under-resourced communities that otherwise would not receive the support youth in neighboring communities receive naturally (i.e., more school counselors and services provided/available).

Program Services

CYN aims to improve positive life outcomes through the Therapeutic Mentoring for Youth Affected by Opioid and other drug misuse through the use of Transition to Independence Process evidence-based Model; connect youth to substance abuse prevention (Too Good for Drugs evidence-based program) or treatment programming with Nicasa Behavioral Health; and collaborate with stakeholders to ensure care coordination. Specific areas addressed are:

• problem-solving
• coping
• self-advocacy
• prosocial activities
• peer connections
• education progress
• employment
• case management
• parent communication
• mental/behavioral
• substance abuse
• delinquent attitudes

Target Population

We aim to provide mentoring under this grant to young people with any one or more of the following:

• Single Parent Household
• Academic Challenges
• Juvenile Justice Involvement
• Victimization
• Substance Impact or Misuse
• Facing Discrimination based on Race or Ethnicity

Mentor Recruitment and Training

• 96 youth to be served under this grant
• 3 mentors recruited under this grant
• 40 matches
• For mentor recruitment, we hire paid mentors 21+ years old.
• Duration of program services: 6-12 months
• Expected intensity of match contact: 1-3 hours per week
• Expected length of a match: 6-12 months
• Expected frequency of match contact: 1-3 hours per week in person, plus collateral and case management time
• Number of training hours required before a mentor is matched with a youth: 87.46 hours