Buncombe County Treatment Court Enhancement 2022

The current project seeks $750,000 in federal funds over 48 months for the enhancement of the Buncombe County Veterans Treatment Court (BCVTC), Drug Treatment Court (BCDTC), and sobriety court (BCDWI). All three courts operate at 60 Court Plaza, Asheville, North Carolina. It is expected that the grant will serve 300 referrals and 150 clients across 48 months. The minimum, maximum, and average lengths of participation for graduates across the three courts are as follows: (1) BCVTC: 16.8 months – 30.9 months, median of 22.35 months; (2) BCDTC: 13.87 months – 37.61 months, median of 20.12 months; and (3) BCDWI: 14 months – 24 months, median of 18 months. All three courts target moderate to high risk/high need clients. Participants in all courts have access to FDA-approved medication assisted therapy through community behavioral health providers, the VA, and the Buncombe County Detention Center (for clients who are ever taken into custody). The Buncombe County courts currently address clients’ substance use by connecting clients to agencies that provide a full continuum of services including medication management, traditional outpatient, intensive outpatient, detox, and inpatient residential programs. Clients who need immediate crisis stabilization can also access walk in services at the C3 356 Comprehensive Care Center.  The current project seeks to enhance clients access to: (1) intensive/residential substance abuse treatment (Standard 5; p. 14), (2) trauma informed manualized curriculums that are culturally and gender specific (Standards 2 & 6; p. 15), and (3) complementary services (Standard 6; p. 16). Additionally, the project requests funds to support: (4) the representation of a treatment provider and peer support specialist on the teams, and (5) team training (Standard 8; p. 15 & 16). Through these enhancements, both courts are seeking to provide comprehensive supervision and treatment services to clients with substance use and/or mental health disorders (including opioid users and clients with post-traumatic stress disorder).The BCVTC and BCDTC currently receive funding through the 2018 Adult Drug Court Discretionary Grant Program (OMB #: 1121-0329) which expires December 31, 2022. The BCDWI court currently receives funding from the NC Governor’s Highway Safety Program.The courts are not leveraging any other state or federal funding to support the courts. The current project is seeking priority consideration under category 1(A).