Recognizing the need for better, more effective solutions to the opioid crisis and other public health challenges facing law enforcement, solutions that create pathways for public safety and public health approaches to work in tandem to increase access to effective treatment and recovery services, PTACC has created the Treatment, Housing, and Recovery Workgroup. This workgroup is comprised of representatives from national organizations and leaders from state and local jurisdictions across the country with expertise in behavioral and public health, mental health (MI and/or SMI), social services, and housing advocacy and homelessness prevention.
The goals of this workgroup are to: (1) support pre-arrest diversion pathways that promote recovery using innovation, technology, and best practices that enhance service integration; and (2) advocate for policies and practices that tackle the many systemic, financial, and attitudinal challenges that often impede treatment, housing, and recovery-oriented models of care that seamlessly span multiple service delivery systems.
Ultimately, these two goals combine to reduce barriers to access to treatment, social services, and housing.
This workgroup focuses on access to treatment and services as an alternative to arrest and involvement in the criminal justice system for people with mental illness and substance use disorders. This workgroup includes an emphasis on access to housing in recognition that without a safe place to live recovery is difficult if not impossible, and by promoting increased access to both housing and treatment/services we are ensuring a holistic and integrated approach. While this workgroup embraces recovery-oriented treatment and services as pre-arrest diversion strategies, it recognizes that the recovery process can be complex and there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach. Additionally, central to the work of this workgroup is the belief that the robust recovery process must be incorporated into pre-arrest diversion service models for improved and sustainable outcomes for individuals, families and communities.
The Treatment, Housing, and Recovery Workgroup created a set of 11 guiding principles for behavioral health practice in pre-arrest diversion programs, and is working on a follow-up tool that is meant to provide guidance on each principle for behavioral health practitioners and service providers working in the field.
The Treatment, Housing, and Recovery Workgroup is led by Ric Ohrstrom, olimba@aol.com, and Leslie Balonick, leslie.balonick3@gmail.com.
