VCU news

By Brian McNeill

The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has awarded a five-year, $2 million grant to a Virginia Commonwealth University-led project that will provide a range of services, including drug treatment, employment, housing, case management and peer support, for people with substance use disorders and co-occurring mental illnesses who are involved in the criminal justice system.

Project ReConnect will serve 275 individuals who are currently incarcerated in the Chesterfield County Jail and who are participants of its HARP program – Helping Addicts Recover Progressively – as well as individuals who are receiving services from REAL Life, a community-based substance use treatment and re-entry organization in Richmond.

Project ReConnect will provide participants with:

• In-jail services for soon-to-be released individuals with substance use disorders and co-occurring mental illnesses.
• Transition services from the jail to community.
• Individual Placement Support and Supported Employment, an evidence-based model that helps individuals with mental disorders find and keep employment.
• Peer recovery specialist support.
• Executive-functioning skills building.
• Housing assistance and placement.
• Substance use prevention, recovery and harm reduction services.
• Comprehensive case management and linkage to long-term clinical services.

Project ReConnect is led by a multidisciplinary team of researchers at VCU, including Gary S. Cuddeback, Ph.D., interim dean, associate dean for research and professor in the School of Social Work; Nancy A. Morris, Ph.D., chair of the criminal justice program and associate professor in the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs; Amy Cook, Ph.D., acting assistant dean of student services and associate professor in Wilder School; and Melodie Fearnow-Kenney, project evaluator in the School of Education.

Previous research has shown that individuals involved in the criminal justice system who have co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders are at a higher risk of recidivism and returning to drug use post-release from incarceration. The heightened risk is largely because the post-release re-entry process is often hindered by their complex trauma histories and lack of treatment and resources, which exacerbate difficulties obtaining housing, employment, social support, and medical and mental health services, Morris said.

Additionally, formerly incarcerated individuals with substance use disorders are at increased risk of a drug-related overdose post-release, and this risk is higher during the first several weeks of release, she said.

The increases in opioid- and/or fentanyl-related fatal overdoses among formerly incarcerated individuals with co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders has led many to argue that jails and correctional-based re-entry programs must include substance use treatment and overdose prevention and continuity to community-based recovery services. HARP and REAL Life offer such services, and Project ReConnect will work with both to supplement and enhance their current programs during incarceration and up to 12 months post-release, Morris said.

In addition to providing support to participants, Project ReConnect will establish a multidisciplinary criminal justice/social work student internship program, preparing VCU students to work in social work, substance use treatment and criminal justice careers.