The link between victimization and trauma in the lives of girls, mental disorders and substance abuse, and court involvement and incarceration has been researched and documented.   Read “Gender Matters: Meeting the Physical and Mental Health Needs of Detained Girls, “Health & Medicine’s policy recommendations to the Cook County Temporary Detention Center

Since 2002, Health & Medicine has convened the Court Involved Girls Advocates Group (Advocates Group), which includes policy makers, city and state officials, civil rights organizations, direct caregivers, academicians, court officers and staff, health and community organizations to advocate for policy mandating improved physical and mental health services and programming for court involved girls.

One year ago, the Advocates Group completed a set of nine health care recommendations to the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (JTDC) focused on treating the complex and varied health needs of court involved girls within a safe and supportive environment, the first of which was to establish an Office of Girls Justice Services.

The Advocates Group is thrilled to announce that on March 16, 2009, with the support of Cook County Commissioner Earlean Collins and Earl Dunlap, the Transitional Administrator appointed by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the JTDC hired Mykel Selph as the Director of Gender Programming at the JTDC to ensure that the girls detained in Cook County have trauma informed and gender responsive programming and services available to them.  The Advocates Group will meet with Ms. Selph on a regular basis to support her important work.