Enhancement of the existing Adult Recovery Court Program to expand current capacity and implement an integrated treatment approach for individuals with addiction and co-occurring disorders.

Project Abstract:

    The 31st Judicial District Adult Recovery Court Program has been operational since July 2004, and serves Van Buren and Warren Counties in rural Tennessee. The ARC is a post-adjudication court which accepts misdemeanor and felony offenders who have been assessed with substance abuse and behavioral health issues. The program serves approximately thirty-five (35) individuals a year. As of December 2020, the ARC Program has graduated three-hundred forty-seven (347) individuals with two-hundred sixty-one (261) individuals not re-offending, giving the ARC Program a 75% success ratio.

    The population of focus for this proposed project is adults with substance use disorders or co-occurring disorders with high risk / needs who qualify but cannot currently be served by the ARC Program due to programmatic limitations. Many of these individuals are denied because of funding limitations and remain in jail in lieu of participation in the program. In addition, the funding will allow the ARC to specifically target women, and women with children to provide gender-responsive treatment and recovery not currently offered within the program, and allow a strategy to combat the opioid abuse, misuse, and overdose problem facing Van Buren and Warren Counties. By implementing a treatment program utilizing the five-point opioid strategy of; 1) improve access to prevention, 2) treatment, 3) recovery support services to prevent the health, social, and economic consequences associated with opioid misuse and addiction, 4) Medical Assisted Treatment (MAT) utilizing the local treatment center Volunteer Behavioral Health Services, 5) and enable individuals to achieve long term recovery will address these current issues. In addition, the ARC uses the best practice standards as outlined in the NADCP guidelines for operating a successful Arc Program and is addressed in the Project Narrative on pages: #4, #9, #10, #11, and #13.

    The grant funding will allow the ARC Program to expand the current number of individuals served from thirty-five (35) per year to an additional forty-five (45) per year, with a total of one-hundred eighty (180) additional participants served within the four (4) year project time frame.

    The requested grant funding of $500,000 for a four (4) year period will allow the ARC Program to fund one (1) full time therapist, two (2) part-time case managers, and two (2) part time Peer Recovery Coaches, whose primary focus is assisting individuals with substance abuse and behavioral health issues.
    The 31st Judicial District Adult Recovery Court Program is currently not receiving any other federal funding sources.