SIDNEY — Four Preble County probation officers and the Preble County Probate Court Administrator recently attended two days of extensive training on Carey Guides, a tool which will help support and help youth in Preble County.
According to Probate and Juvenile Judge Jenifer Overmeyer, the court partnered with two other juvenile courts to reduce the cost of the training and were able to secure a grant from Ohio Department of Youth Services (DYS) for the minimal costs incurred, meaning this additional training was provided at no cost to Preble County.
The court administratoradditionally attended a third day of training on “quality assurance.” The training took place from June 27-29.
According to Carey Group Publishing, “Research demonstrates that traditional methods of supervision are ineffective in reducing recidivism among adult and juvenile offenders. For behavior change and recidivism reduction to be possible, offenders must understand the personal and environmental factors underlying their offending behavior and be taught the skills they need in order to make positive changes in the future. The Carey Guides are designed to equip corrections professionals with the information and tools they need to support these changes among their clients.”
Judge Overmeyer added, “[Carey Guides] are designed to translate evidence-based practices (EBP) into a series of strategies and tools that are quick and to the point. Each Guide follows a consistent format. Background information provides important research findings and contextual information to support the application of evidence-based approaches.
“Each Guide also contains two to five Tools (worksheets). These Tools are designed for use by offenders – with the assistance of their probation professional – to understand and address risk factors, triggers, and other conditions that are essential to their success. The Tools allow the offenders to address their skill deficits and make positive changes in their lives. The Carey Guides cover a wide range of topics that youth usually deal with and discuss different scenarios and different outcomes for those scenarios. The youth are encouraged to come up with solutions with prompting questions from probation staff. The solutions are theirs and thus the hope is that they’re more invested and take responsibility for the decisions they make,” Overmeyer explained.
“The Guides are designed to help the youth be more active in their permanent behavioral changes instead of probation staff merely telling them what to do. The Guides assist probation staff in helping youth learn how and why to change step by step.”
“The quality assurance training was given to ensure that the probation professionals are adequately and appropriately meeting their clients’ needs,” Overmeyer said. “The court administrator attended all three days so she heard the same thing probation staff heard and the third day was for her to learn how to assist the probation staff and how to ensure that probation staff uses the Carey Guides to their full potential.”
”The Ohio Department of Youth Services is so impressed with this program that it made a grant available to cover the entire training, including transportation,” Overmeyer said. “We applied for the grant, received it and therefore the entire three days was without cost to the court/Preble County. The feedback I’ve gotten from staff has been overwhelmingly positive. We are thrilled to have more tools to better help Preble County youth!”
