Counselling Court-Involved Youth and Their Families

In this course, Dr. Constance West explains the chief social, cultural, economic, and political factors which impact on the provision of counselling to court-involved youth and their families. She cites alarming statistics concerning the prevalence rates among such youth of substance abuse and also mental disorders. West’s work has shown that youth of ethnic minorities are far less likely to be served well by both the justice systems and the mental health systems to which the youth are referred than their Caucasian counterparts, with the result that in both Australia and the U.S., minority youth are over-represented in the respective justice systems. Case study insights help illustrate West’s points.