We promote better lives through better choices.
That’s our mission at the National Center on the Sexual Behavior of Youth (NCSBY).
We strive to inspire youth, parents, caregivers, and professionals to make better choices – to instill healthier responses to problematic sexual behavior (PSB) in youth. We want to promote youth's healthy sexual development and behavior and prevent sexual behaviors that are developmentally inappropriate or potentially harmful to others. The NCSBY is an evidence-based resource and information center. We are part of the Center on Child Abuse and Neglect (CCAN) in the Department of Pediatrics of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences. We offer national training, resources, and assistance to those interested in learning more about the sexual behavior of youth.
We want to put the right information in your hands. Our resources are designed to improve accuracy and accessibility. We have years of experience, and that expertise means we can help you refine your understanding and responses to sexual behavior in youth. By better understanding the nature, incidence, prevalence, prevention, treatment, and management of youth with PSB, you can improve your approach.
The NCSBY works in partnership with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). This program provides holistic and comprehensive treatment services to youth with PSB – youth affected by problematic behavior – as well as parents, caregivers, and professionals. The OJJDP's Supporting Effective Interventions for Youth with Problematic or Illegal Sexual Behavior Grant assists communities in developing a multidisciplinary, comprehensive and holistic approach to providing treatment services and community supervision for youth with sexual behavior problems and treatment services to the child victims and families of these youth.
Encountering problematic sexual behavior involving your children can be overwhelming. We are here to help by offering resources, treatment information, and support so you can better understand these behaviors. We can help you develop a plan of action. You’ll find resources and other materials discussing childhood sexual development, safety planning, and nurturing healthier behavior. Learn More.
You aren’t alone. Facing problematic sexual behavior, or PSB, can be scary. But we’re here to help you and offer the right resources and support. Talking to a trusted adult like your parent, caregiver, teacher, or relative is the first step in the healing process. Let’s walk this path together. Learn More.
Finding, developing, and implementing the best strategies to address and help youth with problematic sexual behaviors can seem daunting. We work with all kinds of professionals – policymakers, attorneys, case workers, law enforcement, mental health providers and many others – to provide the latest research, with relevant support materials and other resources for evidence-based decision making. We’ll help you apply the best practices when working with youth who’ve displayed problematic sexual behavior (PSB)Learn More.
The Caregiver Partnership Board (CPB) is composed of caregivers who have participated in PSB-CBT™ treatment. CPB members play a vital role in informing patient care, patient-centered research, and best practices. Members of the CPB have developed newsletters and tipsheets written for parents and caregivers who are taking care of children of all ages. The newsletters are to share support, to let others know they are not alone, and to give hope. These include:
Talking About the Elephant in the Living Room (en Español)
Now What? What to Expect Out of Treatment (en Español)
Now What? A Caregiver's Survival Guide (en Español)
The Youth Partnership Board (YPB) consists of youth who have graduated from PSB-CBT™ treatment. Its purpose is to incorporate the voices and lived experiences of youth into the decision-making process. Additionally, the YPB assists in providing insights for training professionals who work with youth displaying problematic sexual behavior. The goal is to enhance outcomes and services for both the youth and their families. YPB members have created tip sheets for other youth, caregivers, and professionals including:
Things I Wish I Would Have Known (en Español)
How Successful Do You Think You Could Have Been in the Program if Your Caregivers Were Not Involved? Not at All (en Español)
Working With Adolescents With Problematic or Illegal Sexual Behavior: Advice From Youth (en Español)
Both the CPB and YPB actively present on local and national panels. They also collaborate with various sites that are in the process of establishing their own boards.
In Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 recognizing a gap in programming for youth with sexual behavior problems and the lack of a systematic and holistic approach to managing these cases, OJJDP and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking collaborated to fund this program. Since FY 2018, OJJDP has continued to fund the program.
OJJDP provides for the training and technical assistance to improve the accuracy, accessibility, and strategic use of information about the nature, incidence, prevalence, prevention, treatment, and management of youth with problematic sexual behaviors. Since FY 2010, the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center’s National Center on the Sexual Behavior of Youth (NCSBY) has been continuously selected by OJJDP to serve as the training and technical assistance provider for the Supporting Effective Interventions for Youth with Problematic or Illegal Sexual Behavior Project Sites.
We at NCSBY partner with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Program (OJJDP) to ensure the protection and welfare of American Youth.
We align ourselves with the OJJDP in efforts to continue three guiding priorities
OJJDP envisions a nation where our children are free from crime and violence. If they come into contact with the justice system, the contact should be rare, fair, and beneficial to them.
Since 2010, OJJDP has funded more than 30 project sites to implement comprehensive, coordinated, community-based evidence-based practices for children and adolescents with problematic sexual behavior (PSB), child victims, and caregivers.
OJJDP has selected NCSBY to provide comprehensive training and technical assistance (T/TA), which includes intensive clinical training in evidence-based practice for youth with PSB. We provide resources to identify and overcome barriers, adapt efforts to fit communities’ resources and needs, facilitate community collaboration, dispel myths, and enhance family engagement.
Building on that success, we provide training and technical assistance to:
We work with project site awardees to surmount multiple agency, system, and policy-level barriers to establish effective procedures, policies, and programs that are fair and just. These changes support identification, referral, access, engagement, and sustainability of evidence-based practices.
Through OJJDP funding, toolkits, tip sheets, and other resources are continuously being developed and disseminated through OJJDP portals, NCSBY.org and through partners. Caregiver and Youth Partnership Boards.
NCSBY Resources Include:
Resources developed by OJJDP include
For more resources, visit OJJDP Resources
More information about the efforts of the OJJDP can be found here: https://www.ojp.gov
