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Residents and juvenile-court counsel warn Clallam County against cutting TrueStar juvenile services
Summary
Multiple juvenile advocates and substance-use professionals told the county at public comment that closing or shifting funding away from TrueStar Behavioral Health would remove the only local juvenile-focused, secured substance-use treatment and leave juveniles without appropriate care.
Several speakers at the June 3 Clallam County meeting urged commissioners not to eliminate or divert funding for TrueStar Behavioral Health, saying the program provides specialized, juvenile-focused substance-use disorder treatment that other local providers cannot match.
Suzanne Hayden, identifying herself as the sole appointed counsel for juveniles in Clallam County, said removing TrueStar’s services would be “devastating” to juvenile defense work and juvenile treatment access. Hayden said TrueStar provides secure, juvenile best-practices treatment and that other local providers and the county’s behavioral-health provider (referred to in the meeting as EBH) cannot substitute the intensity of care juveniles receive at TrueStar.
AJ Teal, a substance-use-disorder professional who said he has worked with teenagers locally for 15 years, told the board that TrueStar has been the community’s consistent juvenile program and that the clinic’s staff have long institutional knowledge, training and relationships across schools, courts and probation. Teal said: “If my own kids had a substance use disorders, I would refer to TrueStar.”
Speakers asked the board to seek alternatives that would allow both jail-based or adult jail treatment expansions and continuation of juvenile services. Several commenters said grant funding for juvenile services may be restricted and not simply transferable to other lines in the county budget.
The board did not take formal action on TrueStar during the June 3 meeting. Commissioners were given public comment time; staff and commissioners did not announce a final decision on TrueStar’s funding at that session.
