Government impact consulting will use funds through the BJA fellowship's enhancing support of and reducing stigma for persons with criminal justice involvement who are in recovery to decrease the…

This $350,000 Cooperative Agreement award from the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) under the Treatment Court Discretionary Grant Program (CFDA 16.585) supports Government Impact Consulting LLC in decreasing stigma and improving access to treatment for individuals with substance use disorders who are involved in the criminal justice system. Key activities include building partnerships, addressing stigma, and enhancing access to culturally-appropriate, evidence-based treatment and recovery services for underserved communities, particularly tribal populations. The project aims to train peer recovery support systems, provide solutions for tribal wellness and healing courts, and create awareness campaigns for criminal justice practitioners to increase understanding and compassion for justice-involved individuals in recovery. The project period runs from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2025.

Government impact consulting will use funds through the BJA fellowship's enhancing support of and reducing stigma for persons with criminal justice involvement who are in recovery to decrease the stigmatization and criminalization of individuals experiencing substance abuse problems in our country by making changes at the national level. Project activities include building relationships with community partners, opening dialogue, addressing stigmatizing beliefs about treatment and recovery, and providing insight into barriers to successfully deploying treatment court models with targeted populations who have historically been marginalized so that access can be enhanced for those populations. Expected outcomes include training and educating peer recovery supportive service systems to increase knowledge and enhance efficacy by decreasing stigma, providing proposed solutions to tribal wellness to healing court teams, providing access to culturally-appropriate evidence-based treatment and recovery services can be accessed by underserved communities resulting in enhanced support and reducing recidivism, and creating awareness campaigns about stigmatizing language and beliefs targeted to criminal justice practitioners that will increase knowledge, understanding, and compassion towards justice-involved individuals and in recovery all of which will contribute to enhancing support of and reducing stigma for people who have had justice involvement and are in recovery. The intended beneficiaries of this project are people in recovery who are justice-involved, tribal communities who can benefit from tribal wellness to healing courts, criminal justice practitioners at all intercept points, and society at large.