Juvenile Justice Programming

OMNI has differentiated itself by successfully working with service recipients that are from communities or populations that are often overlooked or underserved, such as youth who are referred to us from the local police and/or court system.  From the first offender to the serious habitual offender, at OMNI, these youth leave with life skills that help them turn their lives around. By emphasizing accountability, the reconciliation of past wrongs, community safety, and the development of emotional, social and cognitive skills, OMNI’s Juvenile Justice programs help youth develop the skills necessary to make better life choices.

Peer Jury Program:  The Peer Jury program places first-time juvenile offenders who admit to committing non-violent crimes before a panel of local teenage volunteers who determine appropriate actions that will repair the harm to the community, including community service, written papers, and letters of apology.  This Youth Development Program provides teens the opportunity to volunteer and train to become a juror.  Peer Jury volunteers are comprised of a group of youth that hand out sentences to first-time youth offenders.  Youth volunteer jurors will gain leadership and communication skills as well as gain community awareness while playing an important part in making their communities better.

Gang Prevention/Intervention Programming: OMNI offers a gang intervention group focusing on building life skills and problem solving strategies with the goal of reducing gang affiliation and/or violent behavior.

Groups offered: (You can also visit our Counseling Services page for more group counseling information)

Crossroads is a multi-level group counseling program that uses a limit and lead approach to help eliminate disruptive, delinquent, and destructive behaviors by replacing them with pro-social behaviors, responsible thinking and caring emotions.  The limit and lead approach focuses on personal responsibility by limiting harmful behaviors and leading with pro-social ones.  The counselor is responsible for modeling appropriate behavior and demonstrating that one can attain positive goals through hard work.  The group also confronts peer’s negative behaviors and praises positive accomplishments.  Crossroads consists of three gender-specifics levels of treatment:

1.  First Step – creating a context for change
2. Pathways – challenging patterns and expanding possibilities
3. Transitions – consolidating changes for sustained success

Fees for services vary from program to program.   A sliding fee scale is available for those families who may have an inability to pay, which is based upon household income, number of dependents and relevant outstanding expenses. OMNI Youth Services understands that some families are not able to pay the full hourly rate, therefore a portion of the cost may be supported by various local, state, federal and private sources. A full breakdown of the resources can be viewed in our Annual Report.

For more information on services, schedules and fees, please contact our Buffalo Grove office at (847) 353-1500.