During Jamaica Hospital Medical Center’s Third Annual Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Symposium, health professionals were able to learn about current trends in juvenile delinquency.
“It’s a very timely topic concerning the future of our country and this world, which are our children,” said Department of Psychiatry vice president Anthony Maffia said during the March 17 symposium.
Maffia also spoke of the importance of the event, noting that it would help those in attendance “become better clinicians in serving our children.”
“I’m certainly very proud of all of the work that our people have done to put this conference together,” he said. “This hospital is a commitment that our people and our hospital have made.”
The featured speakers at the conference were Dr. Marie Giselle St. Felix, an attending child and adolescent psychiatrist at the NY Correction Facility of East Elmhurst and Queens Children Psychiatric Center Day Treatment Program, and Alfred Siegel, the Deputy Director of the Center for Court Innovation.
“We’re very fortunate to have two very knowledgeable speakers today,” said Dr. Fermin Gonzales, the Director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, while expressing his gratitude to the speakers.
St. Felix’s presentation focused on children with conduct disorder, which she said is one of the most common forms of psychopathology. She explained that conduct disorder could include aggressive behavior towards people or animals, property destruction, deceitfulness, theft, and serious violation of rules. Other influencing factors could include corporal punishment or physical, sexual, or verbal abuse.
In order to address conduct disorder behaviors, St. Felix spoke about using therapy to treat it and school-based intervention. She noted that intervention should be targeted to peers as well as to families.
“Everybody needs to get together to help this child,” St. Felix said. She added that people can help these adolescents by showing they care and treating them with respect.
Other topics included in St. Felix’s presentation were the challenges of working with adolescents with conduct disorder and incarceration alternatives.
Siegel shared information about New York State’s juvenile justice system. He said that the average annual cost for placing a young person is $240,000 and said that, within New York State, 53 percent of those in placement are there because of a misdemeanor, although there can be other contributing factors.
In New York, the juvenile justice system is based on getting to know the young person as much as possible so that a plan can be made to best meet their individual needs.
Siegel also spoke about reform initiatives, detention alternatives, youth prison conditions and mental health programs.
The symposium also included a question and answer session.
