Background:

In October 2018, Durham County Government was awarded a grant through a solicitation for the Improving Reentry for Adults with Co-occurring Substance Abuse and Mental Illness Program, funded under the Second Chance Act. The funding period took place over three years, including a one-year planning phase during which the Durham County Justice Services Department (JSD) team initiated their Executive Steering Committee, hired staff, defined program elements, created protocol, developed forms, identified data collection instruments, completed training, conducted an initial assessment and mapped the referral processes, and established the evaluation contract with The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Aims:

The project aimed to implement the following five elements:

(1) Integrated screening and assessment for mental illness and substance use disorders

(2) Jail- and community-based integrated group treatment modules for adults with serious mental illnesses and co-occurring substance use disorders

(3) Comprehensive and integrated reentry case planning completed in conjunction with a criminogenic risk assessment tool

(4) Direct service staff trained in dual disorder motivational interviewing

(5) A warm handoff between reentry program staff and community-based behavioral health treatment providers

*These program goals remained consistent over the course of the grant period, with one exception – the training in dual disorder motivational interviewing was not implemented.

Principal Investigator:

Tonya Van Deinse