Four Directions Treatment Center Recovery Coach Program

The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes are federally recognized and located on the Fort Hall Reservation in Bingham, Bannock, Power, Caribou, and Oneida counties in Southeastern Idaho.  With this funding, the Peer Recovery Support Program will lay the foundation for a strong and healthy recovery community on the Fort Hall Reservation.  Safety of the Reservation is threatened by substance abuse.  Four Directions Treatment Center (FDTC) estimates that 50% of the population suffers from addiction and 100% of the community is impacted.  In 2020 approximately 77% of adult FDTC clients were referred by the Federal, State and Tribal justice systems.  Half of those referred were from Tribal courts. 

The Tribes’ overarching goal is continuation and expansion of the Peer Recovery Support Program.  CTAS funds will allow the FDTC to continue the positions of a full-time recovery service coordinator and a full-time recovery coach.  The program will increase one-on-one recovery support, provide recovery support for individuals incarcerated in Tribal Corrections, and increase community empowerment through outreach and training.  The program will assist in development of a Tribal Strategic Action Plan to address addiction recovery needs such as sober housing, employment of those in recovery, and sustainability.

Peer recovery coaches are not sponsors, nor are they counselors, health care providers, nor case managers. Instead, they are trained individuals who have experience with recovery and who provide non-clinical recovery support to their peers. They help individuals, using their own personal life experiences, to increase self-esteem and assist them in accessing resources.  Therefore, recovery coaches compliment addiction counselors, health care providers, and justice system personnel by filling gaps in service to individuals suffering from addiction, while also addressing the problem of addiction at a community level.  From 2017 to 2020 the Peer Recovery Support Program provided services to 7,341 individuals, and assisted FDTC community prevention with the contact number at 11,095 served. 

With 2021 CTAS funding, recovery coaches will connect those seeking recovery to services, provide cultural activities, increase collaboration with tribal government, the justice system, and health care providers.  Four Directions will conduct outreach activities and recovery training for the community, initiate Medicaid billing for recovery coach services, and train and supervise new volunteer recovery coaches for program sustainability.  Without CTAS funding, the Peer Recovery Support Program will be eliminated.

The Tribes are requesting funding from multiple CTAS purpose areas.  The receipt of funding for Purpose Area 3 is not required for the implementation of any other purpose area programs requested.