What professionals are saying about MEGA
February 10, 2016
As a forensic psychologist, I do evaluations of adults and children in a large geographic area covering much of Northwestern Florida. Among the evaluations I do are psychosexual assessments of juveniles. The evaluations are done for juvenile probation officers, judges and public defenders. I also do psychosexual evaluations of non-adjudicated youth for a community mental health agency and a female treatment facility.
Concerned about the psychometric property limitations of the commonly used tools, I looked into MEGA Impressed with how it was developed, its psychometric properties and the age range it can be used for, I attended training last fall. I have been using MEGA since then and it is the only psychosexual risk assessment tool I now use with juveniles.
MEGA is unique in that it has four distinct scales, each with excellent internal consistency. No other psychosexual risk assessment tool for juveniles currently on the market provides such extensive information. It provides information about the risk to reoffend, protective factors, family dynamics, how cooperative/uncooperative the juvenile will be during treatment, the progression of the behavior and the risk for course sexual improprieties.
MEGA has been well received in this area. More importantly, I feel better about using a tool that is psychometrically sound on matters so important. I highly recommend it to anyone who does psychosexual assessment of children and adolescents. The only regret I have is that I did not find MEGA earlier.
Kimberly S. Haga, Ph.D.
1101 Gulf Breeze Parkway, Building 5, Suite 19
Gulf Breeze, FL 32561
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
I am the former Program Manager of the STEPS Program, in San Diego, CA.., a children's mental health program that treats children and adolescents with sexually abusive behavior problems. While overseeing STEPS, the clinical staff utilized the MEGA to help determine and track a youth's risk level and guide treatment interventions. The MEGA was used consistently and an ongoing basis to assess youth's risk levels and any change in that risk over time. After being trained on the use of the MEGA and how to administer it, I found it very easy to understand and utilize. Upon first using the MEGA , I was completely surprised at how detailed the summary report was as it describes the risk level in measurable and behavioral terms. The summary report is individualized to each youth and the results were consistently congruent and appeared to be a very accurate representation of that youth's behavior. The tool was especially helpful and effective in determining the appropriate level of care for a youth and also their treatment recommendations. STEPS is a program that strongly collaborates with both the juvenile dependency and ward systems. Use of the MEGA was very helpful when treating a forensic population as there was comfort in knowing recommendations based on risk level were backed up by an evidence based tool with 71% accuracy. In summary, I can't speak highly enough of the MEGA and the individualized results that come with each report submission. This tool gives you confidence in standing by your assessment of level of risk for further or repeated sexually abusive behaviors.
Erin Murphy, MFT, former Program Manager of the STEPS Program, San Diego, CA.
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
The narrative within the protective scale identifies and highlights protective elements to mitigate risk. Unlike other assessment tools, the MEGA help facilitate a strength-based approach to treatment as opposed to a deficit approach. Furthermore, it assists clinical professionals in challenging stigma driven non-clinical professionals in providing avenues to introduce and enhance protective factors of youth in treatment.
Henry Collier, LCSW, Clinical Director,
Martins Achievement Place,
P.O. Box 560, Citrus Heights, Ca 95660
March 2016
We have been assessing youth for inappropriate sexual behavior risk since 2004 with most of the available adolescent risk assessment tools available - the MEGA has been so invaluable in our work with SAY clients since we were introduced to it in 2008- we had the privilege of participating in an international MEGA cross-validation study that reinforced for us the ecological and multifaceted integrity of the tool - the MEGA provides us a comprehensive and focused tool that facilitates our individualized treatment planning with the adolescent population we serve - we highly recommend this tool and the training that is provided by Dr. Miccio-Fonseca .
Hiram Rivera-Toro MS, LMFT and Karen Shipley, LMFT
Clinical Consultation and Mediation Services
10630 Town Center Drive, #103
Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730
Monday, February 22, 2016
I have been involved with the development and implementation of the MEGA since its inception and was one of the early research and development sites. I have found it to be both easy to use and useful. It provides something that none of the other juvenile assessments for sexually abusive youth provide. Specifically, it is designed for youth. Though it is normed on youth, it recognizes the growing and changing nature of youth. The tool itself is useful not only in establishing areas of risk, what might be etiology of risk and also strengths in the form of protective factors. By separating and pinpointing dynamic risk factors and protective factors the MEGA can provide a road map for therapist to target therapeutic intervention and to measure progress of the youth in therapy.
I recommend the use of the MEGA either with another juvenile assessment tools or alone. I commend Dr. Miccio-Fonseca for her tireless and thorough research and several validation studies.
Marti Harris Fredericks, LMFT
Executive /Clinical Director of the Teen Triumph Treatment Program for over 23 years.
Stockton, CA.
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Mental Health Systems’ STEPS program has been utilizing the MEGA for over 3 years. The MEGA provides us with initial and on-going data about our youths’ level of risk to re-offend. This data is utilized throughout treatment and at discharge to monitor an increase or decrease in risk and is shared with referral sources such as the Juvenile Justice Department to provide feedback on individual and community safety.
We have found the MEGA to be user-friendly and the training and assistance we’ve received from Dr. Fonseca has been outstanding.”
Delrena Swaggerty, MFT
Vice President, Mental Health Systems
San Diego, CA.
Monday, 22 February 2016
I am the Children’s Service Manager and Consultant for a Barnardo’s specialist Harmful Sexualised Behaviour (HSB) service in the North West of the UK.
My service was involved in the MEGA cross-validation study in 2009-2013 and my staff have been registered to use the assessment tool since 2013.
My staff have utilised MEGA as an integral part of our service provision. The consistency of risk measurement has been evident throughout and as our assessment tool we have found it to be an effective and holistic assessment resource. MEGA has consistently offered us a robust foundation to the development of therapeutic programmes that can focus on static, stable and dynamic and acute factors, which has allowed for the lens of therapy and assessment to concentrate on the salient areas of the child or young persons needs.
I would stress that experience in the HSB field is essential when applying MEGA, along with a competent approach to analysis and evidence based practice/assessment/intervention.
Kind regards,
Steve Bore
Children’s Service Manager, Safer Futures HSB Therapeutic & Assessment Service Barnardo’s
Address: 222, Eccles Old Rd, Salford, M6 8AL
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