Tag: diversion

DA’s Office pre-trial diversion supervisor, DWI counselor to receive national awards

diversion awardees

Pictured are, from left, Sandra Encalade, supervisor of Drug Diversion; Pam Occhipinti, chief of Diversion; Maureen Bradshaw, DWI substance abuse counselor; Katie Theriot, deputy chief of DWI Diversion; Vin Lamia, substance abuse counselor; Blake Bascle, deputy chief of pre-trial diversion and who oversees pre-trial juvenile diversion; and, Stacy Krider, substance abuse counselor.

Two Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office employees are receiving national recognition for their decades of counseling and community-related work.

Maureen Bradshaw, a substance abuse counselor in the DA’s Pre-Trial Adult Diversion program, and Blake Bascle, deputy chief of Pre-Trial Diversion who oversees the Pre-Trial Juvenile Diversion Program, will receive the awards during a national conference to be held in New Orleans, April 10-12.

They were selected for recognition by the executive board for the Treatment Accountability for Safer Communities, or TASC, a nationwide association whose members work with 220 programs dedicated to the professional delivery of assessment and case management services to substance involved criminal justice and court populations.

Bradshaw will receive the Milton Abrams Award, formerly known as the Spirit of Recovery award. It is given to someone who has overcome an addiction to drugs or alcohol, remained sober for at least 10 years, is a productive citizen and contributes positively to his or her community through work or volunteerism.

Bascle will receive the association’s Innovator Award, given because of the significant effort he has made in enhancing the behavioral health field. Nominees for the Innovator Award must demonstrate creativity and resourcefulness in promoting new behavioral health programs to better serve our diverse populations.

Bradshaw has been sober for 31 years and has been a substance abuse counselor for 28 years. She graduated summa cum laude from Southern University at New Orleans in substance abuse counseling and sociology in 1992.

She holds certifications in clinical supervision and co-occurring disorders and is a licensed addiction counselor who has worked for the DA’s Office since 2013. Before her recruitment to the DA’s Office, Bradshaw spent much of her career working as a clinician and director of inpatient high-intensive residential treatment.

Bascle, who has worked in the field for 27 years, received a master of social work from Tulane University in 1989 and a bachelor of psychology from the University of New Orleans. A licensed certified social worker and board-approved supervisor, he worked in the mental health industry as a psychotherapist in private practice and served a stint in Mobile, Ala., as director of several behavioral health facilities in that city.

In 2012, he joined the staff of the Jefferson Parish Juvenile Court’s Family in Need of Services, or FINS. The following year, the DA’s Office recruited Bascle to lead its Juvenile Pre-Trial Diversion Program. Bascle is receiving the award for his innovative work with the Jefferson Parish Public School and the creation and implementation of “Restorative Practices” within the school and criminal justice systems.

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