A collaboration between Berrien Community Foundation and Berrien County Trial Court has created an online tool that puts resources at the fingertips of teens and families in crisis in an effort to reduce the number of youthful offenders appearing in court.
The partnership brought about the “Teens in Need” questionnaire tool, which can be found on Berrien Community Foundation’s already-existing, hyper-local online resource, Help4Berrien.org. The tool allows users to select the issue they are dealing with to pull a curated list of resources of organizations who specialize in those needs. All organizations listed are either located in Berrien County or have programs for Berrien County residents. Topics include teen parenting, counseling, alcohol and drug use, self-harm, grief support, meeting basic needs and finding low-cost or free after-school activities.
“Teens in Need is for any youth in Berrien County not sure where they could turn for help,” said Berrien County Trial Court-Family Division Administrator Elvin Gonzalez. “On the county level, we’ve been taking steps to implement prevention programming because youth benefit from connection to community resources, which help address the factors that place them at risk of involvement with the juvenile justice system. There are many wonderful organizations in our community who are ready to help teens if they just ask. But how do they know who to ask? That’s where the ‘Teens in Need’ tool comes into play.”
According to data collected by Berrien County, the average age of teens admitted into secure detention was 15.8 years in 2023. Many of the offenses committed by youthful offenders stem from behavioral and mental health needs.
The Family Division of Berrien County Trial Court has researched and implemented multi-faceted approaches to improve the wellbeing of teens. They convened a group of community experts and professionals to brainstorm solutions and plans to improve use of prevention programming, including BCF Program Director Susan Matheny. The Teens in Need tool was developed as a result of these meetings. In addition to Matheny, those in attendance included: Charlie Patterson, Berrien County Health Department; Jean Lawrence, Berrien County Trial Court; Ron King, Benton Harbor Success Movement; Alloyd Blackmon, Boys and Girls Club; Julie Earle, Bridge Academy; Sarah Frey and John Wells, Family Empowerment Services; Beth Aurand, Riverwood Center; and Stephen Rockette, YMCA.
Similar to how Help4Berrien users can sort resources based on topic or location, “Teens in Need” is a collection of programs aimed at helping teens resolve issues or prevent entering the juvenile justice system. Users can go to www.berriencommunity.org/help4berrien/teensinneed, answer three quick questions and have a list of reputable organizations, links to their websites, phone numbers and where they’re located.
“Help4Berrien was created to be the go-to place for when people didn’t know who to turn to get help,” said BCF President Lisa Cripps-Downey. “Help4Berrien is for all of Berrien County, and, if we can add to one of our resources to make Berrien County teens feel better, healthier and happier, that’s what we want to do.”
Drawing from their own lives and abilities to network, Berrien Community Foundation’s Women’s Giving Circle launched the original iteration of Help4Berrien in 2019 to put all local resources in one place that anyone can access.
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