Rebekah Behan

When Rebekah Behan participated in the Transforming Youth Justice: A Development Leadership Program, she worked as a Program Manager at the Governors Prevention Partnership and has now been promoted to Projector Coordinator at the CHDI. She joined CHDI in 2019 and works on the School-Based Diversion Initiative (SBDI), School Health Assessment and Performance Evaluation (SHAPE) system, and Project AWARE. Rebekah has over 18 years of experience working in the human service field, with an extensive background in youth development, prevention strategies, and mentoring services. She is a skilled project manager and trainer who has presented both locally and nationally. Before joining CHDI, Rebekah served as Program Manager at The Governor’s Prevention Partnership, where she managed a state-funded contract by the Judicial Branch, Court Support Services Division, and a federally funded contract the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. She also spent 15 years as a direct service provider at Kleinberg Family Centers, providing residential treatment, therapeutic afterschool care, and community-based services. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Child and Youth Psychology from Eastern Connecticut State University.

Capstone Project: Infusing Natural Mentoring into Communities: Youth often have a bevy of adults from different scopes of life who make permanent impacts over their course. Mentoring programs are structured to formalize a relationship between youth and positive adults to foster connection and guidance. Infusing natural mentoring concepts purposefully into communities where children are surrounded by negatively and engaging in risky behaviors would allow youth the ability to identify and create circles of support with adults in their network. Natural mentors are those adults whose child identifies as having secure attachments from their social network.