2019 CJAB Conference

"Criminal Justice Challenges; Collaborative Solutions"

What: The 2019 CJAB Conference "Criminal Justice Challenges; Collaborative Solutions" will bring together criminal justice, behavioral health, and treatment partners in what promises to be a dynamic and informative one and a half-day event. We have an exciting line-up of national and local experts who will discuss the challenges impacting our criminal justice and behavioral health systems, and the collaborative solutions that have had proven success.

We are excited to feature new plenary speakers, including Dr. Andrea Bonior who will discuss the prevalence of mental illness in the United States.  Dr. Bonior breaks through the myths of mental illness, and paints a human picture that goes beyond the numbers. She discusses the most pressing crises in mental health today, and their complicated relationship with the criminal justice system.  Bob Davies, author of "The 1.2% Factor", will discuss his methodology for collaborating to achieve enhanced job performance and discover how these innovative techniques can be used to achieve both individual and group goals. Tonier Cain, internationally renowned trauma care expert and author, film-maker and CEO of several non-profit organizations, will share her powerfully moving personal journey from crack addict to successful business woman in her session, "Where There's Breath, There's Hope: Addressing Trauma in Criminal Justice Populations".  She will discuss how being trauma-informed allows criminal justice and behavioral health professionals to better assist the people they are seeking to help, using her real-life examples.  And Gabriel DiCristofaro, actor, CEO and former inmate, will present "Triple M: Mindset, Mental Health and Motivation" to help audience members better understand the behavior and motivation of justice-involved people with mental health from first-hand experience. In addition to these engaging plenary sessions, we will feature several break-out sessions covering topics such as evidence-based practices, reentry, trauma-informed care, technology, behavioral health initiatives, and more. This year's conference promises to be an excellent training and networking opportunity for our justice and behavioral health partners. 

Who: The conference is open to all CJAB members, criminal justice, and behavioral health practitioners with a plethora of plenary and breakout sessions with universal appeal to all criminal justice and behavioral health professionals.

Please Note: This year's conference will last a full day on Tuesday, April 9, 2019 and a half-day on Wednesday, April 10, 2019, concluding at 12:00 noon for general conference attendees. In response to feedback received from prior year conference attendees, following the general conference, we will be hosting a specialized Post-Conference Session from 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. for CJAB Coordinators, Chairs, and CJAB leaders!

This post-conference session, "Getting Work Done - How to use Systems Transformation to Achieve Goals" is open to those CJAB members in a position of leadership who wish to increase their knowledge and skills needed to effectively work within a board structure. The session will assist CJABs in utilizing a vision statement to guide work, communicate best practices for getting work done in a board setting, and provide learning experiences to help leaders achieve the CJAB vision.  While this session is intended for CJAB leaders, any CJAB member may attend as designee if their Chair or Coordinator is unable to attend. This session will be facilitated by Dr. Lynn Mirigian, Program Director for the Program Evaluation Research Unit and the PA Overdose Reduction Technical Assistance Center (TAC) within the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Mirigian has extensive experience working with county-based working groups with diverse membership in Pennsylvania with the identified goal of producing actionable law enforcement and public health metrics for success. 

Continuing Education Credits: This conference has been submitted for review and approval to provide 11 Continuing Judicial Education (CJE) Credits, 11 Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credits and 11 National Association of Social Workers continuing education credits.  We will post more information on credit availability as our applications are reviewed and approved.

Fee: There is no fee to attend.

Cancellation Policy: In the past few years, a high volume of no-shows by people who have registered for the conference, but failed to attend, has resulted in a loss of substantial amount of funds. To ensure that this loss does not occur again, and to keep this conference free for attendees in the future, PCCD has instituted a strict policy requiring notification of cancellation by close of business on March 28, 2019.  

Under this new policy, cancellations after March 28, 2019 and/or "no shows" will be charged $77/day for each day that you registered but did not attend. These costs are derived from the per-person day meeting package rate set by the Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center.

There will be no charge for those who notify PCCD of their inability to attend in writing (email) to Ms. Jackie Weaknecht at jweaknecht@pa.gov by close of business on March 28, 2019.

Hotel Accommodations: For overnight accommodations, please visit The Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center or contact 1-814-863-5000 and utilize the booking code CJAB19A. Deadline for the discounted room rate of $122.00 is Friday, March 8, 2019.

Registration Deadline is March 29, 2019. 

Registration is no longer available for this event.

Agendas: Tuesday, April 9, 2019 [Updated 3/28/2019]

                  Wednesday, April 10, 2019 [Updated 2/28/2019]               

Common Sense Practices in Community Corrections/Information at Sentencing - Chadwick J. Libby, Director, Dauphin County Probation Services Department

Career Pathways for Reentrant Success - Dorenda Hamarlund, Career Pathways Program Manager, PA Department of Corrections, Lacosta Mussoline, Eastern Regional Reentry Administrator, PA Department of Corrections

Case Assisted Re-Entry (CARE) Program -  Dr. Kimberly Eaton, Director of Reentry and Clinical Quality Assurance, Franklin County Government

How Being Trauma-Informed Improves Judicial Decision Makin​g - Jennifer Lopez-Cerrato, Executive Director, Friends Association for the Care and Protection of Children

Interstate Commission for Adult Offender Supervision - Matthew Reed, Acting Interstate Probation Services Director and Acting Deputy Compact Administrator, PA Board of Probation and Parole