Behavioral Health and the Young: Adolescents and The Mental Health Crisis 

This country’s mental health crisis is by no means limited to adults.  We know that young people frequently suffer from traumatic events.  This fact has only been made worse by the scourge of COVID.  A recent survey by the Pew Research Center revealed that well over a third (37%) of U.S. high school students struggle with stress, anxiety, or depression due to COVID-19.  We must address this crisis.  We do not want to endure the effects of trauma that has been ignored for too long.  This month is the 4th of our five-episode discussion with members of the National Judicial Task Force to Examine State Courts’ Response to Mental Illness.

The Honorable Theresa Dellick is a Judge with the Mahoning County Juvenile Court in Youngstown, Ohio. Judge Dellick entered private practice in 1984. She became a partner in a Youngstown law firm and was a civil trial lawyer. In 1999, she became a county court judge, where she implemented the first misdemeanant county drug court. Since 2001, Judge Dellick has served as judge of the Mahoning County Juvenile Court overseeing the administration of the Court as well as the Detention Center. Her administration of the Court has been directed to balanced and with focused attention to youth accountability and responsibility, public safety and restoration of victims’ rights. Recognizing the complexity of many of the issues before the Court, Judge Dellick has brought evidence based programs to Mahoning County that address both juvenile and family rehabilitation, many which have received state recognition for their effectiveness and have served as model programs to other courts.  The Court also has a cognitive behavioral therapy unit to address behaviors of medium to high-risk youth. The program was created to prevent institutionalization of youth and to keep students close to home and family while providing positive behavioral therapies.

The Honorable Kathleen A. Quigley is a Judge with the Pima County Superior Court in Tucson, Arizona. Judge Quigley graduated from University of Arizona Law School in 1986. She joined the Pima County Attorney’s Office in 1987, where she worked as a prosecutor and trial attorney.  In September of 2003, she was appointed to the Pima County Juvenile Court Bench as a Hearing Officer/Judge Pro Tem.  In April of 2009, she was appointed as a Pima County Juvenile Court Commissioner.  In October of 2012, she was appointed by Governor Brewer to the Pima County Superior Court Bench. She served as the Presiding Judge of Pima County Juvenile Court from 2014-2020. She has been the Associate Presiding Judge of the Juvenile Court since July 2020 – present. She is honored to serve on many community, state, and national committees. She has been a proud member of NCJFCJ since 2010 and has served on the NCJFCJ Board of Directors since July of 2018 and serves on the Governance, Membership, and Finance Committees.

Teri Deal, M.Ed. joined the National Center for State Courts in 2019 after several years of experience working in juvenile and family court research settings and in direct service to system-impacted youth and families. Her work at NCSC focuses on child, youth, and family justice with a specific emphasis on implementing and evaluating court practices, continuous quality improvement, and systems change efforts.  Prior to joining NCSC, Ms. Deal spent nearly a decade as a researcher at the National Center for Juvenile Justice (NCJJ), where she focused on supporting juvenile justice systems, courts, agencies, and programs to collect and use data to improve outcomes for youth and families.  She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. and is researching school-justice partnerships.