Training and Education

All the members of therapeutic court teams need to learn new and different ways of doing their jobs.  Prosecutors and defenders must see beyond their traditional adversarial roles and find ways, within the scope of their legal responsibilities, to work together to help participants overcome their addictions.  Therapeutic court judges must be able to use their brief in-court interviews with individual participants to motivate, guide and inspire.  Therapeutic court case coordinators and treatment providers need to be able to identify and correct criminal thinking errors.  All members of the team must be able to work together and find consensus.  

Once a young man graduating from the Anchorage Felony Therapeutic Court described the change from traditional court when he said:

"Before, when I was in trouble, it was the State of Alaska against me.  In this program it is the judge, the case coordinator, the treatment provider, the prosecutor, the defender and myself – all working together against my addiction."

Recognizing the continuing need to train new therapeutic court team members, Partners for Progress has coordinated with the Alaska Court System to arrange training and maximize use of available resources.  Partners provides scholarships to make it possible for team members to get needed training when other sources are unavailable.  

Links:
Training Resources and Methods
NDCI 2008 Drug Court Practitioner Training Series
Guidelines for Training Scholarships