Gaston county veteran and adult treatment courts expansion grant - gaston treatment court system (GTCS) will support two established treatment courts with a single application in the same judicial…

The Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded Gaston County $395,573 through the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment Projects of Regional and National Significance program on September 30, 2026, to expand and operationalize two established treatment courts serving individuals with substance use disorders and co-occurring conditions.

Gaston County will operate the Gaston Treatment Court System, comprising the Adult Treatment Court and Veterans Treatment Court in the same judicial district, to serve 270 individuals over the five-year period (an average of 54 annually), with approximately 25 percent of Adult Treatment Court clients and 30 percent of Veterans Treatment Court clients characterized as felony-involved or high risk. The project focuses on two distinct populations: those with mental health and substance use disorders without military experience, and those with military experience requiring additional trauma-informed support. The county will implement evidence-based practices including motivational interviewing, cognitive behavioral therapy for both substance use and trauma, medication-assisted treatment, intensive outpatient programming, wellness recovery and action planning, and 12-step support. Direct service delivery includes expanded case management and peer support specialist staffing and a new mentor coordinator position. The grant also funds comprehensive assessments addressing mental health conditions and trauma history, mentoring support, and community stigma reduction activities to improve treatment access and reduce recidivism. Performance of the award occurs in Gastonia, North Carolina, with a completion date of September 29, 2031.

Gaston county veteran and adult treatment courts expansion grant - gaston treatment court system (GTCS) will support two established treatment courts with a single application in the same judicial district, the gaston adult treatment court (ATC) and the gaston veterans treatment court (VTC, north carolina, by serving 270 individuals with substance use disorders (SUD) and CO-occurring conditions (COC), an average of 54 per year. About 25% of the ATC clients and 30% VTC are felony involved/high risk. Two populations of focus are those with MH/SUD without military experience (ATC) and with military experience (VTC). Veterans will require additional support for trauma as county data finds that less than 12% of CJ/SUD/COC clients with a documented trauma history receive trauma focused treatment. Both courts have been underutilized and have included limited or no fidelity/evaluation component that will elevate impact and provide data for sustainability post grant. We will increase efficiency, provide additional case management (CM) and peer support specialist (PSS) staff, and hire a mentor coordinator (MC). We focus on direct services to clients while also (1) ensuring fidelity to the adult treatment court best practice standards (BPS), (2) reducing recidivism of persons with CJ/SUD/COC by assessing for mental health conditions and trauma history during a comprehensive assessment and providing appropriate evidence-based practices/treatments (EBP), (3) ensure that all clients have access to community recovery-based services; and, (5) address the stigma prevalent in the community that restricts recovery options for clients that interferes with treatment, recovery and recidivism success. Other ebps specific to treatment gaps that the team will implement include mentoring support, wellness recovery and action planning (WRAP), motivational interviewing, cognitive behavioral therapy for SUD and for trauma, medication assisted treatment, intensive outpatient treatment, 12-step facilitation, living in balance, and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. With this approach we will target five goals with 23 linked objectives. Each goal was developed to address the five overarching needs that emerged during preparation for submission. Goal 1: increase the number of eligible individuals served by the ATC and VTC and establish a unified evaluation and fidelity-monitoring infrastructure across the newly integrated GTCS. Goal 2: implement integrated, trauma-informed assessment practices across the GTCS that expand family involvement and address the high rate of trauma, ptsd, and domestic-violence-related needs among participants. Goal 3: strengthen the operational infrastructure of the GTCS by expanding fidelity monitoring, increasing drug-testing capacity, establishing a dedicated mentoring coordinator (MC) for the VTC, and formalizing integration with the local VA system. Goal 4: expand access to evidence-based, trauma-specific and mat services, including moud/maud and family/parenting-focused interventions, tailored to the needs of ATC and VTC participants. Goal 5: expand long-term recovery support infrastructure for GTCS participants, including additional case management capacity, certified peer support services, and access to recovery/sober living housing. Fidelity is critical for the proposed implementation and the treatment model offered by providers committing to the project. Ensuring safety, monitoring of clients, and providing ebps to fidelity to reduce recidivism combined with community-based recovery services requires strong communication and integration of court, provider, and evaluation personnel. A fidelity management plan to focus specifically on fidelity metrics combined for effective BPS and service/EBP delivery will be used. A process, outcome, and participatory evaluation plan approach with emphasis on clear data collection strategies will be integrated into an evaluation model that will answer all goals and objectives by coordinating process, outcome, and fidelity evaluation methods.