Creating Access to Therapeutic, Re-entry, and Recovery Support Services in Transylvania County Detention Center

Transylvania County, through its initiative, the Community Awareness Recovery Effort (C.A.R.E.) Coalition, is applying for Category 1: Subcategory 1c. funding for its Creating Access to Therapeutic, Reentry, and Recovery Support Services in Transylvania County Detention Center program, which will serve residents of rural Transylvania County, North Carolina (total population 34,385) who are detained in the Transylvania County Detention Center (TCDC); 70% of detained individuals meet criteria for OUD and/or SUD and the majority have a history involving trauma. The overall goal of this project is to create access to trauma-informed behavioral health services (BHS) and care-coordinated, peer support specialist-informed recovery and reentry services for detained individuals. This goal will be achieved by hiring and training a 1) 1FTE Behavioral Health Therapist (BHT) and 2) 1FTE Care Coordinator to support the needs of detained individuals across the continuum of their detention, from booking/intake to release. Additional activities support the expansion of the County’s OUD/SUD response efforts to include trauma-informed care (TIC) approaches and evidence-based interventions specifically targeted at persons involved with the criminal justice system.

Deliverables include: 1) Provision of BHS to begin by 2/1/22; 2)Provision of peer support specialist-informed, care-coordinated reentry and recovery services; 3) Distribution of naloxone to detainees upon release; 4) Completion/execution of Strategic Plan for Advocacy for MAT bridge prescription; 5) Provision of TIC trainings for detention, law enforcement, and probation officers; and 6) Creation of biannual progress reports to bolster information sharing between BHS, public health, and public safety.

This project leverages a partnership between C.A.R.E. and its subgroup, the Transylvania Opioid Response Team (TORT), the Transylvania County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO), and Transylvania Public Health. Although county residents at large stand to benefit from the reduction of crime and incarceration costs incurred to the County that the project’s interventions have the potential to effect, it is both agents of and those detained by the criminal justice system in this rural Appalachian population who will primarily benefit from the project. By directly providing BHS, recovery, and reentry services to detained individuals and providing TIC training to criminal justice professionals, this project has the potential to measurably impact OUD/SUD among a vulnerable population, and to furthermore effect a culture shift across public safety and public health. By embracing TIC approaches, the County increases its capacity to reduce violent conflict within TCDC, harness positive health outcomes among individuals in the criminal justice system with histories of trauma and OUD/SUD, and reduce recidivism.