The Lakes Area Youth Service Bureau is offering a new unique risk assessment meeting that parents and guardians of teens can take advantage of without any referral from an official agency. They can simply call and make an appointment.
During a trained risk assessment, a trained diversion staff will lead youth through two confidential risk assessment tools. MAYSI-2 is a brief chemical, behavioral, and mental health screening tool. The first part is a self-report survey for youth to fill out. It is scored by the staff immediately. The second part is a one-on-one follow-up interview to see if any of the elevated scores translate into an immediate crisis that would call for a referral for services.
YLS/CMI 2.0 is the Youth Level of Service Inventory to assess the risk level for possible future illegal decisions. The first part of the tool is an eight question one-on-one interview with the youth. The second part is a continued follow-up interview to determine what areas of the youth’s life may be putting them at risk for future unhealthy decisions.
After the youth and staff have finished going through the different interviews, a brief family conversation takes place where the staff will relay to the parents or guardians any general concerns in different area of the youth’s life along with recommendations for possible courses of action to address those areas. All specific information shared by the youth does stay private and confidential unless there is a concern for the youth’s safety or the youth agrees to release that information.
Parents or guardians of teens interested in taking advantage of this new risk assessment for teens can contact Lakes Area Youth Service Bureau at 651-464-3685 for an appointment. Callers should let the person they speak with know they would like to make a “parent referral” for a risk assessment meeting with Heidi Christensen.
Contact Matt Howard with questions by e-mail at matt.howard@ysblakesarea.org.
