Lane County Adult Treatment Court Enhancement

The Lane County Adult Treatment Court (ATC) is an adult drug court that also serves those with co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders. The project falls in Category 2 Enhancement. The project includes components to further the intent of Priority Consideration 1A as discussed on pages 4 and 10-14. ATC is both a pre- and post-adjudication program. Lane County is the geographic size of Connecticut and transected by two mountain ranges which require travelling over 60 miles of hard terrain to access the urban core/county seat. ATC requirements have prevented rural people from participating which exacerbates inequities for historically underserved communities living in rural areas. The project objective is to establish equitable access to ATC. To achieve this objective the project leverages efforts to date to expand referral sources (which are now multiple including self and family referrals), create a more objective screening process, and eliminate inadvertent exclusionary requirements based on location, sex, gender expression, language, race, ethnicity, and/or sexual orientation.

The ATC objective will be pursued through several activities creating essential infrastructure to expand screening, offer services prior to opt-in, conduct virtual group and individual sessions for rural participants, provide rural urinalysis collection, facilitate early engagement via a navigator, and sustain connection via a case manager. All proposed program enhancements are designed to build recovery capital, reach readiness, and support healthy engagement in the community. The project manifests lessons learned and opportunities generated by the COVID-19 pandemic over the last few years. The success of virtual treatment and court proceedings created an opportunity to embrace rural participants with fidelity to the treatment court model. ATC also piloted providing services to people prior to their opt-in to the program. This project will allow ATC to provide services to clients prior to program opt-in which is a vulnerable stage in the process. Establishing a connection with potential participants as soon as possible is anticipated to improve engagement and access to resources for those referred to the program. Overall, the project increases referral sources to mitigate system inequities, adds an Engagement Navigator/Case Manager and Engagement/ Rural Counselor, provides for rural urinalysis collection, supports training, and includes program evaluation to assess progress and opportunities.