Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration

CMHS Consumer Affairs E-News
May 16, 2003, Vol. 03-37

HHS Awards .25 Million for Peer-Support Services to Promote Substance Abuse Recovery

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson has announced ten awards totaling .25 million this year to support development of peer support services for people recovering from alcohol and drug use disorders. The services that will be developed and delivered under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA) Recovery Community Services Program are expected to expand the capacity of the treatment delivery system by providing peer-to-peer services that help prevent relapse and promote long-term recovery for participants.

"These awards will enable community groups to provide people in recovery from alcohol or drug abuse with the support they need to remain drug free," Secretary Thompson said.

The ten Recovery Community Services Program grantees will develop and deliver innovative peer-to-peer recovery support services in community settings. These services are intended to: (1) help prevent relapse; (2) promote timely reentry into treatment when relapse occurs; and (3) promote sustained recovery and an enhanced quality of life for participants.

"Relapse often accompanies early attempts to quit using drugs and misusing alcohol," SAMHSA Administrator Charles G. Curie said. "Recovery is a personal and individual process. These grants will create a support system for recovery."

SAMHSA is funding two types of organizations under its current Recovery Community Services Program: Five awards are being made to recovery community organizations, which are organizations comprised of and led primarily by people in recovery and their family members. Five facilitating organizations are also receiving grants. These facilitating organizations will assist recovery groups in forming an independent recovery community organization to provide peer recovery support services, or will assist them in developing another organizational structure that enables recovery community members to provide peer services in an autonomous manner. The average award is approximately $325,000 for each grantee. Projects can be funded for up to four years if funds are available.

Among the 10 projects that will be administered by SAMHSA's Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, there is a mix of racial/ethnic groups and populations with specific needs. Groups targeted for specific outreach include: Asian/Pacific Americans, Adolescents, African Americans, Ex-Offenders, Hispanics, Homeless, People with Co-Occurring Mental Illness and Substance Use Disorders, People Newly in Recovery, People with HIV/AIDS, and Women. One of the new grantees is a faith-based group, and others in the cohort plan to collaborate with the faith community.

Recovery community groups will engage in the following activities:

• Conduct community assessments to identify recovery community member, family, and other stakeholder strengths and resources, as well as community-specific recovery support needs;
  
  
• Develop and strengthen collaborative relationships with other area service providers;
  
  
• Develop a plan for delivering peer-to-peer recovery support services;
  
  
• Deliver the peer-driven services;
  
  
• Document the service program and evaluate with Government Performance and Results Acts measures; and
  
  
• Develop a recovery support services manual, which can be used by other community groups wishing to replicate the peer-to-peer service model.

The grantees include:

Recovery Community Organizations

Women in New Recovery, Mesa, AZ $315,597
Group Ministries, Inc., Buffalo, NY $324,349
Voices for Addiction, Recovery NC, Inc., Ashville, NC $325,000
Recovery Resource Center, Maywood, IL $325,000
Association of Persons Affected by Addiction, Dallas, TX $321,699

Facilitating Organizations

Asian Counseling and Referral Service, Seattle, WA $325,000
AIDS Service Center of Lower Manhattan, Inc., New York, NY $325,000
Central City Concern, Portland, OR $314,149
Western MA Training Consortium, Inc., Holyoke, MA $325,000
Detroit Public Health Dept., Detroit, MI $325,000

SAMHSA, a public health agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the lead federal agency for improving the quality and availability of substance abuse prevention, addiction treatment and mental health services in the United States.