CARE- communities of recovery (CARE-COR) - CARE of southeastern michigan's proposed CARE-communities of recovery (CARE-COR) program will provide peer recovery support services to homeless veterans and…

CARE- communities of recovery (CARE-COR) - CARE of southeastern michigan's proposed CARE-communities of recovery (CARE-COR) program will provide peer recovery support services to homeless veterans and individuals in the justice system while creating a more robust and comprehensively trained peer workforce for the community and state. The program will be peer-run out of the CARE recovery united community center (RUCC) in southeastern michigan. This program structure includes (1) delivering peer recovery coach services to veterans and people justice involved through a supervised, apprentice-style work experience in non-clinical settings (2) education/training to peers, the community, and the population of focus on recovery-based topics, and (3) assisting with the peer certification process that allows for medicaid reimbursable services. Michigan has an age-adjusted rate of drug overdoses well above the national average, and southeastern michigan was significantly above both the national and michigan's averages. Nearly seven percent of michigan's homeless population are veterans. Southeastern michigan (region 10) has the highest prevalence of homelessness and accounts for 26 percent of the state's total literally homeless population. IT estimated that 70 percent of homeless veterans have a substance use disorder. For incarcerated individuals, 85 percent have an active substance use disorder or were incarcerated for a crime involving drugs or drug use. Yet, only 5 percent of individuals with opioid use disorder in jail and prison settings receive treatment and are at a higher risk for overdose following release. CARE-COR will provide peer recovery coaching services to two hundred (200) homeless veterans and justice involved individuals with substance use disorders in southeastern michigan by may 30, 2024. The program will serve forty (40) individuals in year one, and eighty (80) individuals in each subsequent year of the three-year grant. The goals and outcomes of the proposed CARE-COR peer run program are to increase the rates of abstinence for alcohol or illegal drugs, reduce arrests, increase permanent housing, and decrease engagement in risky behavior. Peer recovery coaches will employ motivational interviewing techniques, sbirt, and trauma-informed principles to support the delivery of recovery support services. The program will also add forty (40) trained peer recovery coaches to the workforce to increase the recovery community infrastructure.