Middlesex County’s Veterans Diversion Program (MC-VDP)

Middlesex County is applying for $950,000 over 48 months under Category 2: Enhancement to improve its Middlesex County Veterans Diversion Program (MC-VDP). The MC-VDP is a pre-plea veterans treatment court that has served Middlesex County since 2018 through the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office.

The proposed enhancement’s purpose (goals) is to identify potential participants, increase caseload, implement randomized drug testing, provide veteran-specific crisis services, monitor and evaluate program goals and effectiveness, and provide interdisciplinary training to the MC-VDP team.

Primary activities (objectives) to achieve the enhancement’s goals will be to implement the Veterans Response Team, employ a full-time coordinator, increase outreach and identification, develop and implement a randomized drug testing protocol, purchase additional drug tests and pay for lab fees to implement the new drug testing protocol, partner with an evaluator, provide a paid internship for program support and outreach, and send team members to program-relevant training.

Expected outcomes of the enhancement are reducing negative outcomes for veterans in crisis and those around them, providing more services to more veterans in need, earlier potential participant identification, improving program outcomes, increased program caseload, increased community education on and awareness of the program, and implementing data collection and assessment procedures that can be maintained after the grant.

Intended beneficiaries are MC-VDP program participants and their families and communities. Estimated total number of participants to be served is 40. Minimum program length is 12 months; maximum is 24 months. Average length is 15 months.

Jurisdiction has access to evidence-based withdrawal and treatment services, as well as a wide variety of treatments and providers for substance use and misuse. Types of services include but are not limited to inpatient and outpatient SUD treatment, MAT, individual and group therapy, behavioral health and co-occurring disorder treatment, and addiction recovery.

Court, program, and arrest data will be used to examine disparities in program and treatment access and retention. Client interview/survey data will be collected to assess disparities in participant experience and barriers.