Overton county recovery court - the overton county recovery court is an existing adult treatment court serving individuals in overton county, tennessee with a current misdemeanor drug or…

Overton county recovery court - the overton county recovery court is an existing adult treatment court serving individuals in overton county, tennessee with a current misdemeanor drug or drug-related charge, no prior arrests for violent offenses within the last 10 years, and assessed as high needs/high risk for abuse alcohol and/or drugs. The recoverycourt will use its 2023 samhsa treatment drug courts grant (TI-23-007) to expand current services for justice involved individuals with substance use disorders or CO-occurring mental health disorders (SUD/COD). Enhanced screening and assessment processes, additional evidence-based services for treatment, harm reduction, and recovery support, and a more coordinated service continuum for court participants are anticipated outcomes through this award. Building on our recovery court program, we are striving to break the cycle of criminal behavior, susbtance use, and incarceration, while simultaneously working to improve our participants' overall quality of life, including their long-term recovery. Overton county is located in the upper-middle section of tennessee near the kentucky border within the appalachian mountain range. The county's population is 22,839. Over 84% of the county is considered rural, and multiple barriers exist for residents due to that ruralness. Comparatively, demographic data show overton county is generally older, less educated, more white, less hispanic, and more socio-economically depressed and under-resourced part of the state. The overton county recovery court program is directly needed because rates of drug use, overdose deaths, crime, and poor health conditions continue to plague the county more than the rest of tennessee in many instances. For example, overton county experienced a 125% increase in overdose deaths from all drugs between 20-21, and federal statistics for 2020 show the county with the 25TH largest opioid dispensing rate of tennessee's 95 counties, and 401ST largest rate of 3,081 counties nationwide. A corresponding lack of treatment providers worsens issues faced by the county's justice involved residents with SUD/COD. At the same time, the recovery court's program completion rates exceeded the state's for 2017-20. The overton county recovery court's goals under this grant are to: 1) expand SUD treatment services in the existing adult problem-solving court to reduce incarceration levels and improve recovery outcomes for people with SUD/COD; 2) provide quality screening, assessment, case management, and program coordination to a larger number of eligible participants; and 3) break the cycle of criminal behavior, alcohol, and/or drug use, and incarceration or other penalties. To achieve these goals, the recovery court will sustain a fully coordinated, multi-system approach designed to combine the sanctioning power of recovery courts with effective substance treatment services to at least 15 program participants annually and 75 over the grant period. The court will identify and implement evidence-based tools used to screen for a wider range of factors possibly contributing to participants' substance use disorders or CO-occurring mental health disorders. Augmented treatment services for program participants will include a more comprehensive outpatient program. A key component of the recovery court's expanded services will include closing the program's current service continuum GAP for aftercare services between core treatment and graduation by offering participants additional harm reduction and recovery support services. Enhanced coordination is anticipated between the recovery court team and community stakeholders to increase public awareness of the court's purpose and services available to justice involved individuals with substance use disorders or CO-occurring mental health disorders.