The Division of Juvenile Justice Professional of the Year Award is given annually to the person or persons who provide opportunities for growth and change by identifying and responding to the unique needs of our youth. The award recipient or recipients help do this through effective treatment, education, and interventions in order to encourage positive lifestyles, reduce recidivism, strengthen families, and protect our communities.
Recipients:
Dr. Jonathan Yip, Associate Director of Mental Health and Treatment Programs
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Jonathan Yip successfully transitioned mental health staff to utilize telepsychology in order to ensure youth continued to receive treatment services.
Dr. Yip led monitoring and reporting updates throughout the pandemic including the updating of key statistics.
He implemented policies, practices and training consistent with the new standard of care required under the Transgender Respect, Agency and Dignity Act and ensured they aligned with CDCR’s policies and procedures.
Dr. Yip developed a staff survey to help provide insight to the executive management team on how best to help staff as DJJ transitions through its Realignment.
Dr. Yip trained new psychology staff while continuing with his regular duties overseeing training at DJJ and care for all DJJ youth. His infectious enthusiasm, steady leadership, and ability to synthesize complex data into actionable information is an inspiration.
Karette Fussell, Supervising Casework Specialist, Ventura Youth Correctional Facility
Karette Fussell is the Disciplinary Decision-Making System Coordinator at Ventura Youth Correctional Facility, but she takes on many additional roles that make her essential to the operation of the facility.
The many additional functions she handles are Drug Testing Coordinator, Public Records Act Coordinator; Litigation Coordinator; and Public Information Officer. As the PIO, she captures and highlights all VYCF stories that are published in DJJ and CDCR media channels.
In addition, Ms. Fussell is instrumental in the planning, creating, and facilitating of youth activities—all of which are incentive-based and capture the true essence of working with the youth population. The result is higher achievement, using innovative pursuits that decrease negative behaviors.
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