Call To Mind Live
Youth Incarceration & Mental Health
Despite dropping rates, the United States still incarcerates more young people than any other country. According to the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, as of July 2021 93% of the youth housed at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake juvenile correctional facility have a mental health condition. Of those youth, 25% have a serious illness.
On Oct. 20, WUWM hosted Call to Mind Live: Youth Incarceration & Mental Health, a Well Beings Tour Event. While mental wellness is crucial for all youth, mental health challenges may be exacerbated by the experience of incarceration in Wisconsin’s prison system and after release.
In this live, virtual event, WUWM spoke with formerly incarcerated people and experts to explore youth mental health needs, and also discussed available resources and alternatives to incarcerating young people with mental health needs in Wisconsin.
Read
Mental health challenges continue in youth prisons to close
Wisconsin still doesn’t know when it will close its two youth prisons. In 2018, then-Gov. Scott Walker signed a law to shut the “schools” at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake, but they’re still open. And while conditions have been improving, the kids there still face tremendous mental health challenges. Alisa Roth reports.
Watch
Host
Teran Powell joined 89.7 WUWM Milwaukee's NPR in the fall of 2017 as the station’s very first Eric Von Fellow and became the Race & Ethnicity reporter in 2018. She began her journalism career at Marquette University as a reporter for Marquette student media and the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service covering local events and community activists. She has also freelanced for the Shepherd Express and worked as a show editor for Fox 6 News. A Chicago native, Teran’s passion for journalism lies within being up close and personal with people in the community and the happenings that affect them directly. With a genuine passion for storytelling, Teran’s goal is to tell the stories that need to be told.
Participants
Henry Boeh is a certified DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) clinician through the DBT-Linehan Board of Certification, and a licensed psychologist. He works with both adults and adolescents and is the team leader of the Center for Behavioral Medicine Adolescent DBT Program. Dr. Boeh is assisting Milwaukee County with implementing a DBT program in the Milwaukee County Secure Juvenile Detention Center and is involved in co-facilitating DBT skills groups in the detention center alongside Running Rebels advocates.
Sharlen Moore has committed her life to building and sustaining grassroots leadership for change. She has a passion for community justice, which led to her co-founding Urban Underground in 2000, a nationally recognized grassroots youth development organization whose members have been at the forefront of youth-led social change in Milwaukee and the region. She is also the founding member of Youth Justice Milwaukee, a broad-based youth decarceration campaign advocating for the creation of community-based, family-centered, restorative programs as an alternative to locking up youth in Wisconsin prisons. Sharlen’s efforts have touched the lives of countless youth and have inspired a new generation of young leaders that will carry forth the struggle for justice and equality. Sharlen currently serves as Director of Urban Underground & Youth Justice Milwaukee, located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Clem L Richardson is a Mental Health and Clinical Substance Abuse Counselor based in the Milwaukee area. Mr. Richardson facilitates groups for men through Project Return, a prison re-entry support group program. Richardson has been employed for the past eight years at the Joshua Glover Center through Wisconsin Community Services (WCS) working with returning citizens from State/Federal prison. He also is on the teaching staff at Milwaukee Area Technical College, (MATC) downtown campus, where he instructs Group Counseling Skills to students. He is a speaker, mentor and is the founder CEO/Executive Director of Manna Behavioral Services.
Roy Rogers is a formerly incarcerated person who entered the criminal adult system as a juvenile at age 16. Now an advocate and speaker for Wisconsin Alliance for Youth Justice, he shares his story and experiences with young people, families and advocates navigating the juvenile justice and criminal justice systems.
Amanda Smit is a Fond du Lac county native who wanted to make a difference in her community. After her graduate degree in social work she joined Project RETURN, an organization dedicated to helping formerly incarcerated people make a positive and permanent return to the Milwaukee area.
ABOUT
WELL BEINGS is a major national campaign from WETA addressing health needs in America with a focus on youth mental health.
The WELL BEINGS YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH PROJECT is made possible by Otsuka, Kaiser Permanente, Bank of America, Liberty Mutual Insurance, American Psychiatric Association Foundation, One Mind, Movember, National Alliance on Mental Illness, The Dauten Family Foundation, Dana Foundation, Hersh Foundation, Mental Health Services Oversight & Accountability Commission, Frances Von Schlegell and John E. Von Schlegell, Robina Riccitiello, Sutter Health, and Jackson Family Enterprises. Partners include CALL TO MIND at American Public Media, PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs, Forbes, PEOPLE, Mental Health America, National Council for Mental Wellbeing, The Steve Fund, and The Jed Foundation.