Date: August 31, 2018
Contact: Cay Shea-Hellervik Global Foundation
MINNEAPOLIS — A new foundation in Minneapolis/Saint Paul seeks to improve outcomes for juvenile offenders and their families. Building on the work of Cay Shea-Hellervik and her Staff who successfully treated youthful offenders at the Hennepin County Home School in Minnesota, this foundation is driven to help parents and professionals turn offenders around so that they become the incredibly valuable citizens they can be.
The Shea-Hellervik Global Foundation supports research that is translated into programs that refine the use of cognitive behavioral therapy for young people in the criminal justice system and in their homes. The foundation promotes dialogue about best practices in treating offenders.
“Our goal is to build on what we know already – there is a cure for these justice involved youth, and it works.” Change your thinking and you will change your behavior. Shea-Hellervik, who created the Foundation and serves as its chief executive officer says, “We know how to change thinking”. We started this Foundation so we could publish our successes; support parents and professionals; fund research; grant scholarships; and sponsor conferences so that parents and professionals will find solutions and teach juveniles how to stop committing crimes.
The serious offenders in her Hennepin County program were pushed to make better decisions and avoid criminal behavior. Among the rules, they were required to keep a daily log of their thoughts, and it was reviewed by staff. The program, which adapted insights and the language criminals understand from Drs. Stanton E. Samenow and Samuel Yochelson, led to a significant decrease in recidivism rates among those who completed the program.
Shea-Hellervik described the treatment process in her 2014 book It’s Not Your Fault: A Workbook for Parents of Offenders
The Foundation Board includes Shea-Hellervik’s daughter, Carrie Heckman, chief operating officer at Bestor Architecture in Los Angeles; her son, RJ Heckman, vice chairman of Korn Ferry; and her husband, Lowell Hellervik, a noted industrial psychologist and chairman of Personnel Decisions International, a global management consulting firm that was sold five years ago.