Building community connections will serve individuals experiencing substance use, addiction and CO-occurring mental health disorders who live with financial hardship, are uninsured or underinsured,…

Building community connections will serve individuals experiencing substance use, addiction and CO-occurring mental health disorders who live with financial hardship, are uninsured or underinsured, and have experienced homelessness. We will provide peer recovery supports and services to build and strengthen a collaborative network with organizations who serve these individuals, provide education on addiction and recovery, expand services to a rural county, and help build the recovery workforce. In travis county alone, there are over 164,000 people under the age of 65 living without health insurance and 2,255 individuals were homeless in travis county on a single day. The rate of poverty in travis county is 10.8 % and 14 % in bastrop county. Communities for recovery has five goals; 1) increase the recovery capital of individuals with a history of substance use disorder (SUD) living at community first! Village (CFV) by expanding recovery support and service programs. Measurable objectives for goal 1 are 80 individuals attending recovery support groups, 120 receiving prss, and 60 individuals attending sober social events. 2) increase recovery capital of underserved individuals with SUD in travis county by expanding recovery support services through building and strengthening collaboration with the travis county emergency services (tcems) community health paramedics (CHP), integral care, downtown austin community court (dacc), dell medical center and the support hospital opioid use treatment (shout), the texas harm reduction alliance (thra), the sobering center (SC), blue bonnet trails community services outreach screening, assessment and referral program (osar) and CFV. Outreach measurable objectives for goal 2 are 45 individuals will receive peer recovery coaching, outreach activities will reach 150 individuals, and 90 individuals will participate in recovery education. 3) increase recovery support services through the implementation of a telephonic recovery support check-in program (trscip) and expand opportunities for individuals new to the peer workforce to obtain work experience hours. Measurable objectives are 300 people will receive telephonic recovery support. 4) increase knowledge of and access to recovery support services for individuals with SUD and their families in bastrop county through quarterly recovery educational classes, telephonic recovery check-INS, and weekly recovery support group. Measurable objectives are 60 people will participate in educational classes, 80 people will attend the recovery support group, and 75 will receive telephone recovery supports. 5) evaluate the project to assess progress toward reaching project goals and objectives and participant outcomes related to recovery and various life domains associated with improved quality of life.