Jennifer Loschiavo has been named Deputy Director of Community Treatment Services. The overall responsibility of the Community Treatment Services division is to facilitate and enhance evaluation and behavioral health intervention for DJJ community-based youth. The division will encompass the areas of community psychology, community social work, evidence-based services, community support services, and community alternative placements. Mrs. Loschiavo has more than 20 years of experience providing direct services in the community and previously served as the administrator for SCDJJ’s Medicaid compliance. She also previously served as the Associate Deputy of Community Alternatives, responsible for oversight of the agency’s 10 camps and multiagency contract with 10 private placements. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Southern Connecticut State University and is also a graduate of the South Carolina CPM Program.

Division of Community Treatment Services

The Division of Community Treatment Services (CTS) is comprised of four major departmental areas: Community Psychology, Community Social Work, Interagency Services, and Evidence-based services. The goal of CTS is to facilitate and enhance evaluation of and behavioral health intervention for DJJ-involved community-based youth. With clinical expertise and intensive case management, youth are served in the following ways:

• Community Psychology Services – Located in three regional offices, community psychologists provide consultation and court-ordered evaluations of pre-dispositional and adjudicated youth. Community psychologists also perform extensive evaluations of youth under consideration for waiver from Family Court to General Sessions Court.
• Community Social Work Services – Working collaboratively with community case managers, this team of licensed social workers serve youth in 19 counties in SC with brief therapy (individual, family, and group treatment), diagnostic assessments and placement staffing documentation, referral services, and clinical case management. Additionally, the social workers collaborate with DJJ special needs coordinators on high-risk cases and also with residential treatment staff regarding youth reentry to the community. 
• Interagency Services – This team is comprised of four regional special needs coordinators in the community, one statewide special needs coordinator for DJJ facilities, and a statewide coordinator of human trafficking cases. Their focus is on appropriate identification and multidisciplinary staffing of high-risk special needs cases, diversion of such cases from DJJ facilities, and collaborative coordination with other SC child-serving agencies.
• Evidence-Based Services – Evidence-based practice is a process in which the practitioner combines well-researched interventions with clinical experience, ethics, client preferences, and culture to guide and inform the delivery of treatments and services. CTS launched the Leveraging Effective Alternatives to Placement (LEAP) Project in 2021, with the intent of providing intensive community-based interventions to divert youth from further penetration of the juvenile justice system. This project is the first large-scale implementation of Multi-Systemic Therapy and Functional Family Therapy in SC.