Creating Safe and Respectful Environments
A Partnership between UMDNJ and the New Jersey Juvenile Justice Commission

Creating Safe and Respectful Environments is a statewide project that has provided training in a variety of topics related to working with youth with mental health disorders and/or trauma to staff in juvenile detention, secure care and other juvenile justice programs. We have been providing training and support to the juvenile justice community in New Jersey since 2005, initially with a grant from the New Jersey Office of the Child Advocate, and in subsequent years with funding by the NJ Juvenile Justice Commission.

Our foundation curriculum, Creating Safe and Respectful Environments, outlines a philosophy for working with juvenile justice youth that promotes respect and cooperation. The CSRE curriculum teaches skills to help direct care staff maintain control of the environment by combining an understanding of the Crisis Cycle and concrete techniques for minimizing crisis as well as verbal de-escalation techniques to help resolve crisis. For centers that have embraced this philosophy and way of working with youth, the results have been outstanding, including reports of increased staff morale and decreased fighting, physical restraints and complaints by residents.

Off of the success of this curriculum, several additional training titles were developed to help further enhance staff learning. These include topics on youth trauma, stress and burnout for staff, suicide prevention, communication skills and supervision training. New titles have been added upon request and can be added as needs for training are identified.

At the heart of this initiative are the Champion Teams that were created in each facility at the beginning of this program. These teams were created to help to problem solve ongoing issues and to drive culture change for their organizations. Champion Teams are brought together twice a year for Champion Team Rallies, which offers an opportunity for sharing knowledge and support across all juvenile justice facilities in the state.

For additional information about CSRE, please contact Amy Jacob, the program coordinator at (732)235-4155 or by email at jacobas@umdnj.edu.

If you are a New Jersey county juvenile detention center or a JJC facility looking to schedule a training title, please click HERE to review and schedule the trainings.