Juvenile Services

Lakeview Academy

Drug Court

 

What is Lakeview Academy?

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Lakeview Academy is a court-facilitated program for adjudicated youth in Emmet County who are no longer able to attend and be successful in the public school system. 

Lakeview Academy provides juveniles under the court’s jurisdiction with a structured school setting and provides a centralized site from which to administer court programming. The school was designed with Emmet County Juvenile Court’s goal of reducing juvenile crime and costly out of home placement for juveniles, while increasing the number of adjudicated juveniles to become contributing members of the community. Lakeview Academy provides the accountability, structure and opportunities needed to rehabilitate juveniles and to decrease the rates of recidivism.

Created in 2002, Lakeview Academy is a cooperative effort between the 7th Probate Court and Charlevoix-Emmet Intermediate School District. Typically there are between 28-31 students, ages 12-18 years old, enrolled at the school. Staff consist of two teachers, a teachers’ assistant, and a court employed youth worker & program manager. In addition, a probation officer and substance abuse services coordinator are housed at Lakeview Academy to provide additional support to the students. With the location of the school next to the Emmet County Courthouse, in-home care workers assigned to each adjudicated youth are also able to have more contact with the youth.

Students attending Lakeview Academy are able to earn academic credits to transfer back to their home district, or if they are seniors they may earn a high school diploma from Lakeview Academy. Student to teacher ratios are much smaller than a typical high school, and individualized academic plans for each student allow students to work at their own pace with greater teacher assistance. Academics are performance based, not based on seat time in the classroom, so credit recovery is an attainable goal.

In addition to their formal education, Lakeview Academy offers many additional opportunities to youth including: individual and group counseling, adventure education, art therapy, life skills groups, physical education, anger management, and gender based groups. After the typical school day ends, students may participate in substance abuse counseling group, outdoor adventure activities (like sailing, kayaking, mountain biking), community service group activities, gender based groups and ski/snowboard group lessons.

In the summer months, credit recovery is offered through summer school. Youth also may participate in a summer work corp program to complete community service, camping trips in collaboration with Camp Daggett Adventure Center, outdoor adventure program, gender based groups, and substance abuse counseling.

 

Juvenile Drug Court Recovery Team

The Charlevoix and Emmet County juvenile drug court program has been chosen as one of six court programs in the nation to participate in developing best practices for the treatment of juveniles who are involved with alcohol and other drugs. (2013 program)

“We are excited and flattered to be selected,” said 7th Probate Court Judge Fred Mulhauser. “This is an opportunity to get better at what we do and a well-deserved recognition for all the hard work done by the members of our recovery program team.”

The Charlevoix and Emmet County recovery teams operate under the direction of Mulhauser and were chosen to participate in the national effort by the National Council of Juvenile and Family Courts along with five additional courts. The other courts are from New Mexico, Maryland, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Idaho and represent a mix of urban, suburban and rural communities.

Mulhauser said the local program’s success is due to its non-traditional approach to recovery: It addresses all aspects of the minor’s life to encourage behavior change.  The program emphasizes education, treatment, family involvement and accountability in a supportive, incentive-based court structure.

At any one time there may be 15 to 25 participants between the two counties with youth coming in and graduating at an individualized rate based on their own performance.

“Our team members meet weekly at noon to discuss every kid’s progress and to tweak their individual program to recognize and support them.  Then at five o’clock, after normal court hours, we have a general review and accountability session with all the juvenile participants, their families, and all the team members,” Mulhauser said.

The 7th Probate Court handles juvenile cases in both local counties. According to the judge, there is a separate recovery team in each county and although each is somewhat different, team members include a substance abuse therapist, probation officer, program coordinator, defense attorney, prosecutor, school representative, court administrator, mental health counselor, sheriff deputy and a physician.

Over the next several years, the national center will be studying the programs selected, provide input and technical assistance, and will share aspects of each program with other participating courts with the goal of developing national best practice standards and improving national performance.

Mulhauser said that even though the local program had the lowest recidivism rate for juvenile drug courts in Michigan at 8.3 percent, he and the teams still aim to improve as a result of participating in the NCJFC project.

“I think we have a lot to contribute as a result of our experience, but we also stand to gain from working with other courts to learn and enhance treatment techniques and approaches that have a proven track record,” he noted.

One direct benefit of the national effort will be the court’s access to assessment tools that help focus on an individual’s needs.  “It is so important to identify individual issues early in treatment, and this is particularly critical for the young substance abuser,” Mulhauser emphasized, “because we really don’t have any time to waste.”

 

 

 

 

Emmet County, Michigan
200 Division Street, Petoskey MI 49770
(231) 348-1700 | Contact Us