Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program

9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

Welcoming Plenary

Tim Jeffries, MSW
Senior Policy Advisor, Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice

Presentation of the Colors

Arlington County, Virginia, Police Department

Tribal Blessing and Honor Song

Shawn Ironmaker
Capture and Proposal Development Manager, Buffalo Horse Inc. , Fort Belknap Indian Community, Hays, Montana

Gregorio Kishketon, MS
Native American/Alaska Native Liaison, Center for Minority Veterans, Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC

Recording of Tribal Blessing and Honor Song

The Power of Recovery and Hope

Siobhan A. Morse, MHSA, CRC, CAI, MAC
Product Director, Addiction Services, Behavioral Health Division, Universal Health Services, Inc.

Recording of 'The Power of Recovery and Hope'

Welcoming Remarks From U.S. Department of Justice Leadership

Amy Solomon, MPP
Assistant Attorney General, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice

Assistant Attorney General, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice

Amy Solomon serves as the Assistant Attorney General of the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Nominated by President Joseph R. Biden and confirmed by a bipartisan vote of the Senate on April 18, 2023, Ms. Solomon leads DOJ’s principal funding, research, and statistical component, overseeing about $5 billion annually in grants and other resources to support state, local, and tribal criminal and juvenile justice activities and victim service programs. Prior to her confirmation, she served as OJP’s Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General since May 2021. Before 2021, Ms. Solomon was vice president of criminal justice at Arnold Ventures, where she launched and led a corrections reform portfolio that aimed to transform the culture of prisons; spark a fundamental shift in the focus of community supervision from catching failure to promoting success; and expand economic opportunities for people with a criminal record. She actively collaborated with other philanthropies, serving on the Executive Committee of the Criminal Justice Funders Forum and the founding Clean Slate Advisory Board. From 2010 to 2017, Ms. Solomon served as director of policy for OJP and as a senior advisor to OJP’s Assistant Attorney General. She worked to shape, launch, and implement a broad range of domestic policy initiatives focused on criminal justice reform, urban policy, and building trust between the justice system and communities of color. She was also executive director of the Federal Interagency Reentry Council, a cabinet-level body established by President Barack Obama comprising more than 20 federal agencies. The council spearheaded the federal Ban the Box rule, fair housing guidance, the Second Chance Pell initiative, and Medicaid guidance for the justice-involved population. Ms. Solomon previously spent 10 years at the Urban Institute, directing projects relating to prisoner reentry and public safety. She also worked at OJP’s National Institute of Justice, where she developed community crime reduction and reentry initiatives. In addition, she managed a community service program for justice-involved individuals; developed reentry strategies for a state department of correction; and worked with juveniles in probation, halfway house, and school settings. Ms. Solomon has served on numerous advisory councils and boards, helping shape innovative approaches to criminal justice challenges in collaboration with policymakers and practitioners, nonprofit and philanthropic leaders, and the advocacy community. She holds a master’s degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Michigan.

Recording of Assistant Attorney General Solomon's Presentation

COSSUP Vision—The Power of Hope: Preventing Overdose and Supporting Communities and Those in Recovery

Karhlton Moore
Director, Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice

Recording of 'COSSUP Vision—The Power of Hope: Preventing Overdose and Supporting Communities and Those in Recovery'

Introduction to the Office of Justice Programs

Karhlton Moore
Director, Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice

Nancy La Vigne, MPA, PhD
Director, National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice

Director, National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice

In March 2022, Nancy La Vigne was appointed by President Joseph R. Biden to be director of the Office of Justice Programs’ (OJP) National Institute of Justice (NIJ). As head of NIJ, she leads the U.S. Department of Justice’s research, technology, and evaluation agency, overseeing a wide array of social science research projects, technology initiatives, and forensic activities focused on improving public safety and ensuring the fairness and effectiveness of the justice system. Dr. La Vigne is a nationally recognized criminal justice policy expert and former nonprofit executive whose expertise ranges from policing and corrections reform to reentry, criminal justice technologies, and evidence-based criminal justice practices. Her previous position was senior fellow at the Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ), where she served as executive director of CCJ’s Task Force on Policing. Prior to joining CCJ, she served as vice president of justice policy at the Urban Institute, a nonprofit social policy research organization based in Washington, DC. Over the course of a decade, she directed Urban Institute’s Justice Policy Center and, from 2014 to 2016, also served as executive director of the congressionally mandated bipartisan Charles Colson Task Force on Federal Corrections Reform. Before being appointed as director of the Justice Policy Center in 2009, Dr. La Vigne served for 8 years as a senior research associate at Urban Institute, leading groundbreaking research on prison reentry. Prior to joining Urban Institute, she was the founding director of the Crime Mapping Research Center at NIJ and was special assistant to OJP’s Assistant Attorney General. She previously served as research director for the Texas sentencing commission. Dr. La Vigne holds a doctor of philosophy degree in criminal justice from Rutgers University-Newark, a master’s degree in public affairs from the Lyndon B. Johnson School at the University of Texas-Austin, and a bachelor’s degree in government and economics from Smith College.

Kristina Rose, MS
Director, Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice

Director, Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice

Kristina Rose is the director of the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), where she oversees programs and services that support crime victims and survivors. Ms. Rose was appointed to this position by President Joseph R. Biden and sworn in on July 12, 2021. At OVC, she oversees nearly $9 billion in grant funding to provide vital compensation and assistance to persons impacted by crime. OVC invests in new and innovative approaches to improving the criminal justice and community response to crime victimization and raises awareness of crime victim rights. Prior to her OVC appointment, Ms. Rose was selected to serve on the U.S. Department of Defense’s Independent Review Commission on Sexual Assault in the Military, where she led the Victim Care and Support line of effort. She spent nearly 20 years at DOJ serving in numerous roles, including deputy director at OVC, acting director and deputy director for the National Institute of Justice, and chief of staff for the Office on Violence Against Women. In 2016, Ms. Rose had the distinct privilege of working at the White House on detail as a senior policy advisor on violence against women in the Office of Vice President Biden. As senior policy advisor, she provided expert advice and guidance on domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. In 2013, Ms. Rose spent 8 months as a victim advocate in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, DC, working hands-on with victims of all violent crimes. At DOJ, Ms. Rose spearheaded many large-scale federal projects, including the first national survey to measure the crime of stalking in the United States; an action research project on untested sexual assault kits that produced national models for jurisdictions around the country; and a virtual training on sexual assault forensic exams with Dartmouth Medical School. She also led the development of the first National Sexual Assault TeleNursing Center, which provides virtual guidance to medical personnel conducting sexual assault forensic exams in rural and isolated areas. Between her periods of federal service, Ms. Rose served in the nonprofit sector as the director of strategic partnerships for Healing Justice and as the executive director for End Violence Against Women International. Ms. Rose holds a master of science degree in criminal justice from Northeastern University and a bachelor of arts degree in sociology from George Mason University.

Liz Ryan, MS
Administrator, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice

Administrator, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice

Liz Ryan became the administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) on May 16, 2022, following her appointment by President Joseph R. Biden. Prior to leading OJJDP, she served as president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Youth First Initiative, a national campaign focused on ending the incarceration of youth by investing in community-based alternatives. Ms. Ryan founded the Youth First Initiative in 2014; under her leadership, it achieved the closure of youth prisons in six states and redirected more than $50 million to community-based alternatives to incarceration. Ms. Ryan founded the Campaign for Youth Justice in 2005 and served as its president and CEO until 2014. The national, multistate initiative sought to end the prosecution of youth in adult criminal courts and the placement of youth in adult jails and prisons. During Ms. Ryan’s tenure, the campaign’s work led to legislative and policy changes in more than 30 states, a 60 percent decrease in the number of youth in adult courts, and a greater than 50 percent decrease in the number of youth placed in adult jails and prisons. A staunch advocate for youth, Ms. Ryan cofounded and cochaired Act 4 Juvenile Justice, a campaign to reauthorize the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act. She also served as advocacy director for the Youth Law Center, national field director for OJJDP’s Juvenile Court Centennial Initiative, and an advocate for the Children’s Defense Fund. She has written extensively about juvenile justice reform, including articles, editorials, reports, and book chapters. Since 2020, Ms. Ryan has worked as a student investigative journalist with the Louisiana State University Cold Case Project, focusing on the murders of African Americans by the Ku Klux Klan during the civil rights era. She collaborated with other Cold Case Project students on “Killings on Ticheli Road,” a four-part narrative investigating the murders in 1960 of four Black men in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana. The reporters reconstructed the day of the murders and questioned local authorities’ failure to prosecute the killer: the murdered men’s employer, a white man who later became a statewide Klan leader. For their work, Ms. Ryan and the other Cold Case Project reporters were named semifinalists for the 2022 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, an award by the Harvard Kennedy School for reporting that impacts U.S. public policy. They were the only students recognized. Ms. Ryan also worked with families of the Martinsville Seven and other advocates to obtain posthumous pardons for seven young Black men who were executed in Virginia in 1951 for the alleged rape of a white woman. Ms. Ryan and her colleagues revisited the convictions, ultimately asserting that they were tinged by systemic racism, a rush to judgment, and a lack of due process. The Virginia governor issued posthumous pardons in 2021, saying that the men did not deserve the death penalty. Ms. Ryan earned a master’s degree in international studies from The George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree from Dickinson College.

Kevin M. Scott, PhD
Principal Deputy Director, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice

Recording of the 'Introduction to the Office of Justice Programs' Presentation

Welcoming Remarks From U.S. Department of Justice Leadership

Vanita Gupta, JD
Associate Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice

Associate Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice

Vanita Gupta is the 19th United States Associate Attorney General and serves as the third-ranking official at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). She supervises multiple litigating divisions within DOJ, including the Civil Division, the Civil Rights Division, the Antitrust Division, the Tax Division, and the Environmental and Natural Resources Division. She also oversees the grant-making components of DOJ—including the Office of Justice Programs, the Office on Violence Against Women, and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services—and supervises the Office for Access to Justice, the Office of Information Policy, the Community Relations Service, the Executive Office for United States Trustees, the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission, and the Servicemembers and Veterans Initiative. Associate Attorney General Gupta previously served as the president and chief executive officer of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the nation’s oldest and largest coalition of nonpartisan civil rights organizations in the United States. Before serving in that capacity, from October 15, 2014, to January 20, 2017, she served as Acting Assistant Attorney General and head of DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. Appointed by President Barack Obama as the chief civil rights prosecutor for the United States, Associate Attorney General Gupta advanced a wide range of civil rights enforcement matters. Prior to her tenure leading the Civil Rights Division, she served as deputy legal director and the director of the Center for Justice at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). In addition to managing litigation, Associate Attorney General Gupta created and led the ACLU’s Smart Justice Campaign aimed at promoting bipartisan justice reform while keeping communities safe. She began her legal career as an attorney at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Associate Attorney General Gupta earned her law degree from New York University School of Law, where later she taught a civil rights litigation clinic for several years. She graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor of arts degree from Yale University.

Recording of Associate Attorney General Gupta's Presentation

10:30 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.
Break

10:45 a.m. – 12:00 Noon
Breakout Session A

Combatting Fatal Overdoses: A Data-Driven and Multidisciplinary Approach to All Six Deflection Pathways

Deflection | First Responder

In 2017, Hamilton County, Ohio, suffered 570 overdose deaths. As of April 2023, the county has witnessed a 24 percent decrease. This decrease is, in large part, attributable to the work of the Hamilton County Office of Addiction Response’s strategic deflection programming. The Office of Addiction Response combats overdoses and overdose deaths by utilizing cross-sector planning and collaboration.

In October 2022, Hamilton County was awarded a Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) grant to launch a first-of-its-kind pilot to involve all six Police Treatment and Community Collaborative (PTACC) deflection pathways as a referral source to a single, co-responder program: (1) self-referral, (2) active outreach, (3) intervention, (4) prevention, (5) post-overdose response, and (6) community-based response. Hamilton County’s Co-responder Deflection Pilot (HC CORE) is a collaborative, co-responder intervention to assist individuals with substance use disorder, mental health disorder, or co-occurring disorders, or who are experiencing homelessness, with a specially trained team of law enforcement and peer navigators who create community-based pathways to treatment, recovery support services, housing, case management, or other needs-based services. In this session, presenters will highlight the innovative method to identify and catalog services in target areas and how to create a coordinated pathway to care by sharing and maximizing outreach data. The presenters will discuss the development of the initiative, data collection, sharing mechanisms, and the key metrics of success for the work.

Learning Objectives

Identify and describe the six PTACC deflection pathways that were utilized as referral sources and demonstrate how this collaborative approach helped to create community-based pathways to treatment.
Analyze the key metrics of success for Hamilton County’s deflection programming and create a data collection and sharing plan to track the success of the participants’ own community-based intervention programs.
Explain the strategic deflection programming approach used by the Hamilton County Office of Addiction Response to decrease overdose deaths by 24 percent.

Meagan Guthrie, MA, CDCA

Captain Tom Fallon
Commander, Hamilton County Heroin Coalition Task Force, Cincinnati, Ohio

Commander, Hamilton County Heroin Coalition Task Force, Cincinnati, Ohio

Thomas M. Fallon, captain of the Amberley Village, Ohio, Police Department (PD), is the commander and a founding member of the Hamilton County, Ohio, Heroin Coalition Task Force. Commander Fallon has served as the commander of this task force since its inception in June 2015. Under his command, the task force has investigated more than 1,100 opioid-related overdose deaths and more than 60 nonfatal overdoses. On October 5, 2016, the Hamilton County Heroin Coalition Task Force was given the award for “Ohio Distinguished Law Enforcement Group Achievement” by then-Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine. In September 2019, this task force was named “Ohio Task Force of the Year” by the Ohio Narcotics Association Regional Coordinating Officers (NARCO). Ohio NARCO is a not-for-profit law enforcement association serving Ohio’s law enforcement community. In his role with the task force, Commander Fallon initiated the Quick Response Team (QRT) in Norwood, Ohio, in 2016 and is currently leading a multijurisdictional, countywide QRT in Hamilton County. In early 2021, he was the law enforcement lead and program coordinator of one of the largest QRT expansion projects in the nation. He is also the law enforcement policy advisor for the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program in Hamilton County, currently serving three jurisdictions. Commander Fallon began his law enforcement career in 1989 at the Wilmington, Ohio, PD. In July 1990, he moved to the Norwood PD in Hamilton County, where he was supervisor of the Criminal Investigation Section and commander of the Norwood Drug Task Force. In 2015, after noticing a steep increase in heroin-related overdoses and heroin-related deaths in Norwood, Commander Fallon helped create the Hamilton County Heroin Coalition Task Force, with a mission to investigate overdoses and overdose deaths back to the supplier of the deadly drug. In November 2017, he left the Norwood PD to join the Amberley Village PD. Commander Fallon has an associate of science degree in criminal justice from the University of Cincinnati.

It Takes a Village…To Serve the People of St. Louis County, Minnesota

Jails | Medication-assisted treatment | Parole | Probation | Reentry

St. Louis County, Minnesota, created an innovative cross-system collaboration to support individuals experiencing substance misuse, co-occurring mental health issues, and barriers to social determinants of health. To better serve people incarcerated in St. Louis County, the St. Louis County Jail collaborates with community partners to build wraparound care in the jail setting and transitions upon reentry. Instead of jail staff providing all services, the St. Louis County Jail works with community partners. A local hospital system is contracted to provide medical systems within the jail, including medication for opioid use disorder treatment (both induction and continuation) and mental health services. The Center for Alcohol and Drug Treatment, the only certified opioid treatment center within 200 miles, provides methadone treatment and peer navigation to ensure that people have access to social determinants of health upon reentry. Recovery Alliance Duluth, a community-based recovery community organization, provides peer recovery services to people in jail and upon reentry into the community. A probation liaison officer and a jail administrative sergeant are the core of a jail team that provides case management services to people screened for behavioral health issues on booking. Another probation officer liaison works closely between the jail and arraignment courts. In addition to these contracted collaborations, the jail team works with community partners, as needed, to get access to needed services while a person is in jail and on transition back into the community or to another institution.

Learning Objectives

Describe St. Louis County’s innovative cross-system collaboration to provide services for individuals with substance misuse, co-occurring mental health issues, and barriers to social determinants of health.
Assess the challenges and benefits to providing collaborative jail services.
Apply wraparound person-centered care to an underserved population.

Jennifer Swanson, MPA
COSSUP Program Coordinator, Recovery Alliance Duluth, Duluth, Minnesota

Jessica Pete
Jail Administrator, St. Louis County Sheriff’s Department, Duluth, Minnesota

Jason Ringdahl
Sergeant, St. Louis County Jail, Duluth, Minnesota

Alabama’s Substance Use Data Repository

Data sharing | State and local coordination

Alabama has had a very successful experience bringing agencies and partners across the state together to address the devastating impact of opioid misuse. By bridging political and jurisdictional barriers, Alabama has developed a robust venue for sharing data county-level data across a broad spectrum of partners: providers and payers, justice entities, and public health surveillance programs. The goal is to provide timely data to the public and the many programs that serve the public so that they may better respond to the ever-changing needs that Alabama’s communities face.

Learning Objectives

Access and interpret statewide and county-level substance use data.
Use statewide and county-level substance use data to allocate and support community resources.
Justify funding requests to support community projects to prevent, treat, and reduce the impact of substance use disorder.

Christopher Sellers, MPH
Director of Analytics, Alabama Department of Mental Health, Montgomery, Alabama

Director of Analytics, Alabama Department of Mental Health, Montgomery, Alabama

Christopher Sellers is an epidemiologist with the Alabama Department of Mental Health. His prior work includes being an early adopter of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services core set of quality of health care measures. Having specialized in analysis of claims data, he was selected to lead the development of Alabama’s Community Health Assessment, which collected data from a broad spectrum of agencies and health interests to provide a comprehensive perspective on the current state of population health. Mr. Sellers also spearheaded an innovative research collaboration between the University of Alabama School of Public Health and Alabama’s Children’s Health Insurance Program that spawned more than 20 peer-reviewed publications that provided timely and relevant information used to develop and refine program policies. His current work involves co-chairing the Alabama Opioid and Addiction Council’s Data Committee, which has led to exciting work such as the establishment of a centralized repository for data related to the addiction crisis. Partners include entities from the justice community, health care providers and payers, and public health surveillance. “I have been fortunate to see how powerful data can be used when made available to all stakeholders—decision makers and non-decision makers alike.” Mr. Sellers looks forward to making statewide data accessible to better inform state agencies and community partners as they continue collaborations to prevent and treat substance misuse in Alabama.

Increasing Peer Recovery Support Services (PRSS) Retention Through Promoting Organizational Wellness

Peer support services

Peer recovery support services are increasingly offered across diverse community, criminal justice, and health care settings to address opioid, stimulant, and other substance use disorders. Supporting wellness and self-care is becoming increasingly important as peer specialists are faced with challenging situations and experiences in the workplace. This session will explore the importance of peer wellness to the retention of service providers and how to implement effective policies and practices to promote self-care in the workplace, as well as techniques and tools to support ongoing wellness for all staff members.

Learning Objectives

Describe peer wellness and its relevance to program development and workforce retention.
Identify the Eight Dimensions of Wellness, along with techniques and tools to support each dimension.
Identify effective policy and practice implementation for promoting wellness and self-care within the workplace.

Tiffany Lombardo, MA, LISW-S, LICDC-CS
Project Director, Altarum

Joseph Hogan-Sanchez
Director of Programs, Faces and Voices of Recovery, Austin, Texas

Sadie Thompson, CPSS
Chief Implementation Officer, Wellbeing Initiative, Inc., Lincoln, Nebraska

Leveraging Partnerships to Inform Prevention: Strategic Use of Overdose Fatality Review and Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Data

Prescription drug monitoring programs

This session will present a comprehensive overview of the functions and features of prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs). PDMPs are tailored to the specific needs and challenges of their jurisdictions regarding prescription drug use and misuse. Each PDMP has its own unique characteristics and capabilities, and this session will highlight the commonalities and differences among them at a high level, focusing on the general policies and practices across the nation. The devastating consequences of overdose deaths necessitate a comprehensive response involving multiple levels of governance. Overdose fatality reviews (OFRs) provide an opportunity for jurisdictions to investigate overdose fatalities from a granular perspective, offering insights that can inform targeted and contextually relevant interventions. Local OFRs typically involve collaborative efforts among stakeholders, including medical examiners, law enforcement agencies, public health departments, health care organizations, and community organizations. These reviews delve into the circumstances and contributing factors surrounding overdose deaths, examining drug types, demographic patterns, socioeconomic influences, and gaps in service provision. This session will explore the significance of integrating local OFRs into a broader prevention framework, illustrating how the insights derived from local reviews can inform prevention activities and set priorities at the local, state, and national levels.

Learning Objectives

Illustrate the evolution of PDMPs and OFRs.
Understand the policies and capabilities of PDMPs.
Understand how these processes can complement and support each other to prevent overdose.

Patrick Knue
Director, Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, Institute for Intergovernmental Research

Melissa Heinen, RN, MPH
Senior Research Associate/Manager, Overdose Fatality Review, Institute for Intergovernmental Research

Senior Research Associate/Manager, Overdose Fatality Review, Institute for Intergovernmental Research

Melissa Heinen is a senior research associate/manager with the Institute for Intergovernmental Research (IIR). She works on the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s (BJA) Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP), providing day-to-day oversight of staff members, programmatic activities including coordination and provision of support to overdose fatality review teams, information sharing/privacy issues, and harm reduction initiatives, as well as assistance with document development, project evaluation, and provision of training and technical assistance (TTA) to COSSUP grantee sites. Ms. Heinen has expertise in facilitating meetings; data analysis; program design, implementation, and evaluation; strategic planning; grant writing; and TTA delivery. She has more than 20 years of experience working in injury and violence epidemiology and prevention at the local, state, regional, and national levels. Previously, she was a senior epidemiologist with the Minnesota Department of Health, where she led the analysis and project coordination of the Minnesota Violent Death Reporting System, including facilitating suicide, homicide, and overdose fatality reviews. Ms. Heinen earned her master of public health degree in epidemiology from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and her bachelor of science degree in nursing, with a minor in psychology, from Winona State University.

The Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network (JCOIN): Partnering to Support Practice Change

Research

Supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institutes of Health Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative, the Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network (JCOIN) engages researchers and practitioners in partnerships to build the evidence base for the treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD) within criminal-legal systems and populations; test strategies for effectively implementing these practices; and build capacity among criminal-legal staff and systems to integrate these practices into routine use. This session will provide an overview of JCOIN’s research-to-practice model and resources available to Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) grantees, followed by three examples of JCOIN research projects supporting the uptake of innovations and interventions: • A case study using innovative modeling techniques to develop local estimates of unmet needs and service gaps along the opioid cascade of care, including efforts to create output to help inform local decision making. • Establishment of a statewide learning collaborative in Maryland, through which jail staff members share experiences and engage in problem solving around state-required efforts to implement comprehensive medications for OUD. • An extended test of an innovative mobile recovery support app (built on the evidence-based Addiction–Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System [A-CHESS] program) for use by probation and court-referred persons with OUD. Ample time will be left for audience discussion and questions and answers.

Learning Objectives

List the key steps in the Cascade of Care framework and describe the value of using local data to quantify agency benchmarks for each step.
Assess the utility of learning collaboratives to promote practice change across diverse settings.
Describe the potential benefits of mobile recovery support services for individuals involved in the criminal-legal system.

Tisha Wiley, PhD
Chief, Services Research Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse

Ariel Roddy, PhD
Assistant Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona

Shannon Gwin Mitchell, PhD
Senior Research Scientist, Friends Research Institute, Baltimore, Maryland

Jessica Hulsey
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Addiction Policy Forum, Bethesda, Maryland

Community Corrections Alternative Program: An Alternative to Incarceration for Those With Substance Use Disorder

Deflection/diversion | Prisons | Parole | Probation

The Community Corrections Alternative Program (CCAP) is a viable alternative to incarceration for those currently on community supervision in Virginia struggling with substance use disorder (SUD). In 2017, the Virginia Department of Corrections (DOC) modified the existing detention and diversion program to the CCAP, giving the judiciary an option other than prison for those struggling with addiction and addressing the growing opioid and substance use epidemic occurring in the state. During the program, probationers and parolees first engage in evidence-based SUD treatment and cognitive behavioral programs, along with educational and vocational training based on assessed needs. Once their treatment needs are addressed, probationers and parolees can engage in employment within the community, gaining income and valuable work skills. Virginia DOC conducted preliminary research during Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 and FY2019 that found that probationers who graduated from at least one CCAP program during the fiscal year were less likely to be incarcerated 6, 12, and 18 months post-release from the CCAP than supervisees who were removed from the program. In addition, they found, during FY2020, that in the 6 months after program completion, 76 percent of CCAP graduates had no positive drug tests. While 23 percent of CCAP graduates did have a positive drug test, only 12 percent had a positive test for opioids. While these findings are preliminary in nature, they demonstrate that the opportunity to successfully complete a program such as CCAP can lead to an individual avoiding incarceration and achieving recovery.

Learning Objectives

Describe the CCAP as an alternative to incarceration and how the variety of treatments and opportunities for probationers and parolees struggling with SUD address recidivism and recovery needs.
Assess what areas of the CCAP have contributed to the preliminary findings of success, and analyze what future data points will assist in supporting the effectiveness of the program.
Assess CCAP future directions to continue to be an innovative solution for the judiciary as an alternative for incarceration and improved outcomes for probationer and parolee success in the community.

Hannah White, MA
Program Manager, Community Corrections Alternative Program, Virginia Department of Corrections, Richmond, Virginia

Joseph P. Owen
Superintendent, Brunswick Community Correctional Alternative Program, Lawrenceville, Virginia

Superintendent, Brunswick Community Correctional Alternative Program, Lawrenceville, Virginia

Joseph P. Owen is the superintendent at the Brunswick Community Correctional Alternative Program (CCAP) in Lawrenceville, Virginia. The Brunswick CCAP is a residential program that offers intensive substance use treatment, cognitive-based programming dealing with life skills, and academic and vocational courses to a population of adult male probationers who have been sentenced to the program by a circuit court in the state of Virginia. Mr. Owen started his career with the Virginia Department of Corrections in 1990, when he was hired as a correctional rehabilitation counselor at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, Virginia. He worked in that capacity until being promoted to probation officer in District 27 Probation and Parole in Chesterfield, Virginia, in 1993. Mr. Owen transferred to District 38 Probation and Parole in Emporia, Virginia, in 1994. He was promoted to senior probation officer in District 38 in 2003 and to deputy chief probation officer in 2007. In 2013, he was promoted to chief probation officer in District 38, where he served for more than 7 years as the unit head overseeing the probation supervision responsibilities of a staff that covered a jurisdiction that included five counties and two cities in southside Virginia. He left this position in 2020 for his current position. Mr. Owen completed the Workforce Development Specialist Training and the Orientation for Probation and Parole Executives through the National Crime Information Center as well as completed the Virginia Department of Corrections Executive Leadership Academy in 2017. Mr. Owen has a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Richmond with a major in sociology and a minor in criminal justice.

12:00 p.m. – 1:15 p.m.
Lunch on Your Own

1:15 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Breakout Session B

Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion in New Mexico: A Tale of Two Programs

Deflection/diversion | First responders

Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program managers Elizabeth Peterson and Jessica Owen, along with their law enforcement colleagues, Captain Michael Delgado and Sergeant Matthew Burleson, will present on the dynamics of operating LEAD with fidelity in rural, village, small town, and city environments. The presenters will explain the geographic diversity of where their programs are located and how law enforcement and case managers partner to work in their unique settings. The presenters will discuss the diverse membership and dedication of their operational workgroup and policy coordinating group and the critical role these groups play in supporting operations. In addition, the presenters will highlight how their programs expanded to incorporate referrals and diversions from law enforcement agencies located in smaller jurisdictions throughout their county and the impact on law enforcement and the community at large. Methods that case managers use to engage LEAD participants in these unique circumstances will be described. Lastly, the presenters will discuss how real-time evaluation data informs program implementation. Case studies will illustrate the myriad of factors that impact a participant’s path of behavior change and how the breadth of case management services often includes children and the extended family. This panel presentation is relevant for deflection programs using the first responder and officer referral and officer intervention pathways operating in rural and small-town jurisdictions.

Learning Objectives

Explain the critical role that key stakeholders play in supporting LEAD program growth, expansion, and sustainability.
Discuss the complexity of LEAD case management.
Describe the value of LEAD from the law enforcement perspective.

Elizabeth Peterson, MPH
COSSUP Administrative Program Manager, Santa Fe County Community Services Department, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Michael Delgado
Captain, Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Jessica Owen
Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion Program Manager, Guidance Center of Lea County, Hobbs, New Mexico

Becca Titus, MCJ
Chief Executive Officer, United Way, Hobbs, New Mexico

Creating Access to Reentry and Recovery Support Services in Transylvania County Detention Center: First-year Findings

Jails | Reentry

Transylvania County, North Carolina (total population 34,385) is nestled in a rural mountainous area that is currently facing the challenges experienced by similar small communities that have high rates of substance use disorder among adults who are admitted to the county’s detention center. With the support of Fiscal Year 2021 Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse Program (COSSAP)—recently renamed the Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP)—site-based funding, the county’s Community Awareness Recovery Effort (CARE) Coalition has partnered with the Transylvania County Sheriff’s Office to develop an innovative approach to expand access to pre- and post-release substance use recovery services in the detention center. This project has provided trauma-informed behavioral health services and coordinated recovery services to people who are reentering the community from the jail, both of which were previously unavailable. This has been accomplished by adding a full-time behavioral health therapist and a full-time reentry specialist to the detention center staff. People who are detained in the county detention center have been receiving substance use-related services and case management for more than 6 months. Project staff members have also been working closely with the research team to collect and analyze a variety of key performance indicators, including substance-specific service needs, prevalence rates of mental health conditions, reentry support factors, and recidivism. This presentation will provide an overview of the implementation of the program, the development of the data collection procedures, and empirical findings from the first year of the project. The presentation will also highlight the ways in which pre-release behavioral health services can diminish staff-detainee conflict within the detention center, improve the likelihood of substance use recovery, and reduce recidivism in an understudied rural community.

Learning Objectives

Describe the process used to implement an innovative care coordination model in a rural detention center.
Assess the primary pre- and post-release substance use-related needs among adults detained in a rural detention center.
Apply this information to the replication and assessment of similar programs in comparable rural settings.

Albert M. Kopak, PhD
Research Scientist, University of North Carolina Health Sciences at the Mountain Area Health Education Center, Sylva, North Carolina

Kristen Gentry, MA
Program Director, Community Awareness Recovery Effort (CARE) Coalition, Brevard, North Carolina

Becky Harris
Reentry Specialist, Transylvania County Sheriff’s Office, Brevard, North Carolina

Court-based Recovery Support Navigation in Massachusetts

Courts | Peer support services

This session will highlight Project NORTH (Navigation, Outreach, Recovery, Treatment, and Hope), a recovery support navigation program administered by the Massachusetts Trial Court. Project NORTH partners with licensed treatment providers to embed recovery support navigators in courthouses in 13 high-need regions across the state. The locations for Project NORTH were selected by an analysis of court and community-level data. The target population for the project is court-involved individuals impacted by substance use disorder as well as family members. The project includes four main pillars: recovery support navigation; access to transportation to services; short-term financial support for certified sober housing; and data collection and evaluation by The University of Massachusetts (UMass) Chan Medical School’s Center of Excellence for Specialty Courts. Additional partners on the project include the state Medicaid office, the Bureau of Substance Addiction Services, the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, the Committee for Public Counsel Services (public defender’s office), and the Massachusetts Alliance for Sober Housing. This presentation will review lessons learned, recommendations for starting a court-based navigation program, and next steps for the project.

Learning Objectives

Describe court-based recovery support navigation.
Assess data points to inform project development and those used to evaluate the project.
Analyze lessons learned and consider applications for participants’ states.

Marisa Hebble, MPH
Project Co-Director, Massachusetts Trial Court, Boston, Massachusetts

Judy Bazinet, LICSW
Program Manager, Project NORTH, Massachusetts Trial Court, Boston, Massachusetts

Supporting the Bereaved After Overdose Loss: Initial Findings From a Novel Pilot Program in New York City

Community outreach | Families

People who have lost a friend or family member to an overdose have unique and complex needs. They are more likely than other bereaved populations to experience posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety; develop prolonged or disenfranchised grief; and attempt suicide. The stigma of drug use and overdose can result in isolation and a lack of community support for those grieving an overdose loss.

In 2022, the New York City, New York, Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) received Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse Program (COSSAP)—recently renamed the Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP)—funds to develop a program to support New Yorkers who have lost a loved one to overdose. OCME started piloting this program in September 2022. In this session, the presenters will share findings and lessons learned from the implementation of this novel pilot program.

The presenters will also share insights into the specific challenges and opportunities associated with serving this population, including: • An overview of the ways in which overdose loss can lead to isolation, shame, and complicated grief. • How pre-existing complex needs can be exasperated by losing a loved one to overdose. • How engagement with families after an overdose death can lead to meaningful policy change.

Many attendees of the 2023 COSSUP National Forum work with individuals who have experienced overdose loss. This presentation will provide a broad range of participants with information about how they can better support patients, clients, or colleagues who have lost someone to overdose.

Learning Objectives

Characterize the needs of a broad range of overdose-bereaved populations.
Describe how to effectively engage and support overdose-bereaved individuals.
Adapt the program development process used by OCME to develop overdose-bereavement engagement and support programs locally.

Hannah Johnson, MPH
Program Manager, Drug Intelligence and Intervention Group, New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner, New York, New York

Vanessa Gamarra, LMSW
Senior Social Worker, New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner, New York, New York

Megan Brown, MPH
Data Manager, Drug Intelligence and Intervention Group, New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner, New York, New York

A Public Health and Public Safety Success Story of Partnerships and Complementary Best Practices

Data sharing | First responders | Overdose fatality reviews

Understanding the evolving nature of the overdose epidemic is a significant challenge for public health and public safety. Multisector collaboration and information sharing are proposed as best practices to mitigate community drug harm. The Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program (ODMAP), overdose fatality reviews (OFRs), and the Overdose Response Strategy (ORS) can be complementary practices for partnership and information sharing. Within New Jersey, collaborative efforts in OFRs, robust utilization of ODMAP, and leveraging the ORS network have led to improved overdose response and access to treatment and recovery services. ODMAP provides near-real-time suspected overdose surveillance data across jurisdictions to support public safety and public health efforts by mobilizing an immediate response to a sudden increase in overdose events. OFRs have been established to effectively identify system gaps and innovative, community-specific overdose prevention and intervention strategies. The ORS is designed to help communities reduce fatal and nonfatal drug overdoses by connecting public health and public safety agencies, sharing information, and supporting evidence-based interventions. All three best practices can be integrated, contributing community context and situational awareness, systems-level thinking, and information sharing across a network. This session features multisector and multilevel panelists providing an overview of ODMAP, OFR, and the ORS. Panelists will spotlight a success story integrating the three cross-sector collaboration strategies, describing New Jersey’s OFR teams’ experience using ODMAP to inform their prevention planning and implementation, leveraging the ORS network to bring success to their state, and implementing a response plan to notifications of a marked increase in overdoses within their jurisdiction.

Learning Objectives

Describe how ODMAP, OFR, and the ORS can identify system gaps, along with opportunities for prevention, intervention, and program planning.
Design innovative, community-specific prevention and response strategies through cross-sector collaboration.
Describe how public safety and public health can collaboratively provide innovative strategies for overdose prevention.

Jason Piotrowski, MPH (Candidate)
Captain, Office of Drug Monitoring and Analysis, New Jersey State Police, Trenton, New Jersey

Kimberly L. Reilly, MA, LPC
Alcohol and Drug Coordinator, Ocean County Health Department, Ocean County, New Jersey

Sarah Ali, MPH
Senior Program Coordinator, Overdose Response Strategy, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Foundation, Annapolis, Maryland

Nava Bastola, MPH
Program Coordinator and Overdose Fatality Review Specialist, Overdose Response Strategy, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Foundation, Hillsborough, New Jersey

Prevention in Youth and Families

Community outreach | Families | Juveniles

School and family-based programs have been shown to be effective in preventing substance misuse by reducing risk factors and strengthening protective factors. Community-based organizations have seen success using programs with content focused on providing information, developing skills, structural strategies, and providing services. The Prevention in Youth and Families Community of Practice is a broad category working group that meets bimonthly. Attendees include state-based and local recipients of Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) funding. These meetings have shown that while everyone is implementing a wide array of content and strategies, their work is yielding positive results. This session will present strategies to support youth and their families. Speakers will discuss their experiences, including their biggest successes and biggest challenges when planning, implementing, and evaluating youth prevention programming and strategies. This session will spark conversations to further improve the lives of youth affected by substance use.

Learning Objectives

Identify strategies to prevent substance use in youth.
Recognize potential challenges when implementing youth programming.
Develop steps to start and/or progress prevention initiatives in local communities.

Jackie Mungo
Public Health Analyst and Implementation Specialist, Community Health Implementation and Research Program, RTI International

Timothy J. Cruz
District Attorney, Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office, Brockton, Massachusetts

Margaret Kursey, MA
Director, The Martinsburg Initiative, Martinsburg, West Virginia

Katie Burns, MPH
Manager, Adverse Childhood Experiences Response Team, Amoskeag Health, Manchester, New Hampshire

Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) Training and Technical Assistance Meeting for State Administrative Agencies and Subawardees (Attendance is limited to RSAT representatives only)

(Attendance is limited to RSAT representatives only)

This session will serve as the annual meeting for residential substance abuse treatment (RSAT) grant administrators from State Administrative Agencies (SAAs) as well as RSAT program leadership from subawardees. Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) advisors will share information regarding RSAT funding and administration, and the RSAT-Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) team will provide updates about TTA services and opportunities, including fidelity assessments. Fidelity assessments were initiated by BJA and RSAT-TTA to assess prison and jail substance use disorder (SUD) programs’ adherence to nationally recognized promising and evidence-based practices. The presenters will analyze the lowest and highest aggregate scores and reveal the most common challenges and greatest strengths found in 88 prison and jail SUD program assessments completed in 41 states. This session is intended for an RSAT-only audience.

Learning Objective

This workshop will serve as the annual meeting for RSAT grant administrators from SAAs as well as RSAT program leadership from subawardees.

Roberta C. Churchill, MA, LMHC
Senior Justice Associate, Advocates for Human Potential

Senior Justice Associate, Advocates for Human Potential

Roberta C. Churchill is a senior justice associate at Advocates for Human Potential (AHP) with more than 35 years of experience working with individuals living with the effects of trauma, substance use, and co-occurring mental health disorders. Since 1996, she has worked with justice-involved individuals who have multiple needs, developing and supervising medication-assisted treatment, educational, and gender-specific programming. She has worked with various jails and prisons, community correction sites, and treatment courts facilitating, supervising, and implementing substance use and co-occurring mental health disorder treatment programs. Ms. Churchill worked with a treatment specialist and program officers to develop one of the first Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) programs in Massachusetts, which is still operating after 25 years. Since coming to AHP, she has assisted Dr. Andrew Klein in developing publications and presentations on medication for opioid use disorder and withdrawal guidelines for jails and the pretrial population. Ms. Churchill has also helped research and co-present with Dr. Klein on the prevention of suicide among people with substance use disorder. She was responsible for the two revisions of the Promising Practices Guidelines for Residential Substance Abuse Treatment, is revising and developing toolkits on the topics of integrated treatment for co-occurring disorders and trauma-responsive care, and is currently working on the development of a diversity, equity, and inclusion manual that will help explore disconnections that exist between needs and services due to inequity, lack of diversity, and lack of inclusion.

Samatha Kossow
Research Associate, Advocates for Human Potential

Andrew Klein, PhD
Senior Justice Scientist, Advocates for Human Potential

Cedric Love
Research Associate, Advocates for Human Potential

First Responder Deflection Affinity Group Networking

Deflection/diversion | First responders

Practitioners from the fields listed below will meet with their colleagues for peer-to-peer discussion on their work regarding deflection and pre-arrest diversion efforts and their roles in those efforts. This session is designed to encourage and promote cross-site collaboration, provide new knowledge, and support peer-to-peer learning. Colleagues who currently work in these areas will facilitate the discussions.

Public Safety
Behavioral Health and Support Service
Community
Program Management/Administration
Research
Policymaking/Elected Officials

2:30 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.
Break

2:45 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Breakout Session C

Tennessee’s First Responder Resource Engagement Specialty Team: Supporting the Opioid Crisis’ Front-Line Responders

First responders | Trauma

The Tennessee First Responder Resource Engagement Specialty Team (REST) is a grant-funded program under the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, operated by a nonprofit community coalition. First Responder REST covers a 14-county, mostly rural area in south-central Tennessee using a deflection model to connect individuals to the behavioral health care system, provide peer support, and provide harm reduction resources. First Responder REST utilizes care coordinators, who provide peer support and work with a wide variety of service providers to best meet the needs of each individual referred. Qualitative data received from responders during initial implementation highlighted a need to expand on addressing the mental health needs of the responders themselves, and the training was revised to be more in-depth on compassion fatigue, burnout, and stigma specific to first responders. The trainings are conducted by a peer, a licensed paramedic, who shares professional and personal experiences. The success is two-fold. Independent care coordinators can cover multiple counties and build relationships with a variety of services to connect individuals struggling with substance use disorder. The impact on first responder mental health and high workload are important to consider and address. As a result, interactions with highly stigmatized populations, such as those in need of behavioral health care services, improve. Program referrals have progressively increased since implementation, and most agencies volunteered to be proactive in allowing their personnel to distribute harm reduction resources. The positive outcomes of First Responder REST have spawned expansion into additional regions of the state.

Learning Objectives

Describe the role of peer support in increasing access to behavioral health and recovery supports.
Describe the importance of addressing the mental health of first responders, the frontline response to the opioid crisis.
Describe the benefits of partnerships between first responder agencies and community organizations in rural areas.

Sarah Murfree, PhD, CPS
Executive Director, Prevention Coalition for Success, Murfreesboro, Tennessee

Joshua Crews
Resource Engagement Specialist, First Responder Resource Engagement Specialty Team, Prevention Coalition for Success, Murfreesboro, Tennessee

Post-arrest Diversion: Highlighting Successes and Overcoming Challenges

Deflection/diversion | Pre-trial

Diversion programs have the potential to reduce incarceration and criminal justice involvement of individuals with substance use disorders (SUDs) and mental health disorders (MHDs) by providing pathways out of traditional arrest, prosecution, and sentencing. The most common type of diversion program in the United States is post-arrest diversion, which allows individuals who have already been arrested to avoid prosecution and conviction by engaging with community-based services and treatment programs. Post-arrest diversion programs can be run by courts, law enforcement agencies, community-based organizations and nonprofits, or prosecutor’s offices and are typically designed with the goals of reducing collateral consequences, increasing accountability and community engagement, and saving costs of prosecution and incarceration. Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) sites that are involved in different post-arrest diversion programs will discuss their screening strategies and eligibility criteria, their involvement of agency staff and collaboration with community partners, and their program policies that prioritize participant treatment and recovery. In addition, they will discuss their approaches to avoiding common pitfalls of diversion programs, such as increasing surveillance of individuals with SUDs/MHDs, overcoming stigma to enroll potential participants, avoiding costs to participants, and perpetuating racial disparities that already exist in the criminal justice system.

Learning Objectives

Present a range of post-arrest diversion strategies and understand differences and commonalities across programs.
Understand techniques to reach and engage target populations of arrested individuals with SUDs and MHDs.
Identify successes and challenges that post-arrest diversion programs currently face.
Identify strategies to sustain diversion efforts.

Kristina Varela
Trauma Support Specialist, Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office, Bridgeton, New Jersey

Daniel S. Fiore II
Judge, 17th Judicial Circuit, Arlington, Virginia

Molly Roffers-Susa, MS
Special Programs Coordinator, Winnebago County District Attorney’s Office, Oshkosh, Wisconsin

Caitlin Weihing, MS
Crime Data Analyst, Winnebago County District Attorney’s Office, Oshkosh, Wisconsin

Amanda Folger
Assistant District Attorney, Winnebago County District Attorney’s Office, Oshkosh, Wisconsin

Alexia Walker
Public Health Analyst, RTI International

New England Regional Judicial Opioid Initiative (NE RJOI): Addressing Substance Use/Opioid Use Disorder in the New England Region

Data sharing | State and local coordination

Poverty, trauma, mental illness, and abuse. These are the challenges that New England communities are facing, and substance use disorder (SUD) plays a pivotal role in this endless cycle of despair. Recognizing that the judicial system cannot solve these complex issues alone, the New England Regional Judicial Opioid Initiative (NE RJOI) has joined forces with professional and medical experts to employ effective strategies for reducing SUD in New England communities. This collaboration is increasing the region’s data-gathering practices, education, and training capacities and bringing together the energy, intelligence, and passion of six committed states, judicial systems, and partners to confront this complex disease and improve the lives of justice-involved individuals suffering from SUD, their families, and their communities.

NE RJOI has: • Assessed the opioid epidemic in the region using the Sequential Intercept Model. • Created data maps to identify hot spots. • Conducted data analyses to identify and document best practices to inform ongoing decision making. • Employed recovery support navigators in the courthouse in four of the six states in opioid hot-spot areas. Navigators connect individuals to treatment services and are a resource for all justice system stakeholders. • Completed Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes)—a partnership with the judiciary and six prestigious medical centers in New England to offer SUD/opioid use disorder (OUD) training, case-based learning, and sharing of best practices to reduce disparities. • Developed Communities of Practice in the areas of advancing pretrial services and utilizing remote/virtual environments in treatment courts to build relationships, improve collective knowledge, and share promising and evidence-based practices throughout the region.

Learning Objectives

Describe the benefits of a regional approach to addressing SUD/OUD.
Understand the ECHO model and the application to the judiciary in training judges in SUD/OUD.
Analyze how recovery court navigators could be utilized beyond substance use or behavioral health with a more explicit focus on overdose prevention.

Abby Kuschel
Senior Court Management Consultant, Court Consulting Services Division, National Center for State Courts, Williamsburg, Virginia

Brad Ray, PhD
Senior Justice and Behavioral Health Researcher, Research Triangle Institute, Duluth, Minnesota

Integrating Peers With Law Enforcement to Enhance Crisis Intervention

First responders | Peer support services

The Rimrock Foundation, a drug and alcohol addiction treatment center in Billings, Montana, utilized a Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) grant to partner with the Billings Police Department to develop and implement a homeless outreach team. This team integrates two peer support specialists with downtown Billings police officers to connect unhoused individuals at risk of substance use to treatment and housing to divert them from jail.

Learning Objectives

Assess the readiness of individual communities for integration of peer support with law enforcement.
Apply strategies learned in the session to develop a client-centered approach to building relationships with community partners that benefits the client, while addressing the stigma within the community.
Learn how to utilize program data from multiple partners to identify program benefits and gaps in services.

Coralee Schmitz, MS, MBA, MAC
Chief Operations Officer, Rimrock Foundation, Billings, Montana

Annette Redding, CBHPSS
Director of Peer Support Services, Rimrock Foundation, Billings, Montana

Brad Mansur
Patrol Sergeant, Billings Police Department, Billings, Montana

Emerging Public Health and Safety Research on the Impact of Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs)

Prescription drug monitoring programs

Prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) are state-level systems that collect, analyze, and report data on the prescription, dispensation, and consumption of controlled substances. PDMPs have become one of the most valuable and reliable tools in the fight against prescription drug misuse and diversion. The main goal of PDMPs is to improve patient care and support the development of prevention and treatment interventions for substance use disorders. This session will present three research studies that examine the usability and effectiveness of PDMPs.

Learning Objectives

Assess potential supplementary benefits of PDMPs on health outcomes.
Learn about PDMP clinical decision support tools.
Evaluate the effectiveness of PDMP data use.

Sonam Delvadia, MPH
Epidemiology Research Associate, Office of Drug Surveillance and Misuse Prevention, Pennsylvania Department of Health, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Jason Hoppe, DO
Associate Professor, University of Colorado School of Medicine

Chelsey Richwine, PhD
Economist, Office of Technology, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology The George Washington University

Paying It Forward: Multigenerational Interventions Through the Office for Victims of Crime’s Response to the Substance Use Disorder Crisis

Families | Trauma

The Office for Victims of Crime’s response to the opioid and substance use disorder crisis funding throughout the United States took a multigenerational approach to intervention. This approach recognized not only the complex intersections between trauma, mental health, and substance use but also the family systems that children impacted by substances were a part of. This presentation will discuss the numerous individual, family, and system interventions that sought to help children and families impacted by substance use heal and to prevent future substance use. The grantees in this programming took a multipronged approach through individual services that were trauma-informed, culturally appropriate, and informed by local data and encouraged the community to take on the issue of substance use in their local area. The service delivery and the data-responsive and community-driven work were focused through a multidisciplinary lens to ensure that all of those systems, both formal and informal, as well as community entities increased their awareness of the impact of substance use on children with the aim to provide communities that are safer and recovery-oriented.

Learning Objectives

Identify specific needs of families and the children in them impacted by substance use.
Describe multigenerational interventions.
Describe ways that the participants can engage their own communities in the work of helping all children and families who may be at risk of substance use.

Jennie Cole-Mossman
Technical Expert Lead, JBS International

Karen Yost, MA, LSW, LPC, NCC, ALPS, MAC, CCDVC, CSOTS
Technical Expert Lead, JBS International, North Bethesda, Maryland

Technical Expert Lead, JBS International, North Bethesda, Maryland

Karen Yost is a technical expert lead for JBS International, serving both the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) Training and Technical Assistance project and the Health Resource and Services Administration Rural Communities Opioid Response Program project. She has more than 30 years’ experience providing, developing, and overseeing services for individuals with behavioral health and substance use disorders and intellectual/developmental disabilities. Ms. Yost is a Licensed Social Worker, Licensed Professional Counselor, Nationally Certified Counselor, Approved Licensed Professional Supervisor, Master Additions Counselor, Clinically Certified Domestic Violence Counselor, Certified Sex Offender Treatment Specialist, and Certified School Counselor for grades K–12. She has extensive experience in leadership, training, trauma-informed practice, multisystem collaboration, working with first responders and law enforcement, and working with rural and economically challenged communities. Ms. Yost was appointed to serve on the West Virginia Governor’s Advisory Committee on Substance Abuse, which has been a leader in framing statewide and community responses to the opioid crisis, and the West Virginia Governor’s Indigent Defense Commission. She brings the frontline perspective and experience of program directors across a range of clinical settings as well as expertise in service integration at local, state, and regional levels.

Culturally Responsive Recovery-based Reentry Services for People of Color

Community Outreach | Jails | Reentry

This workshop features presentations from the Legendary Legacies and Nueva Vida programs, providing culturally responsive reentry services to individuals leaving correctional facilities in Massachusetts. Legendary Legacies, Inc., based in Worcester, has created an inspiring program called Legacy Links, which fosters brotherhood and addresses addiction through a compassionate lens, focusing on the dislocation theory. This theory suggests that social isolation and a lack of connection to a supportive community contribute to substance use disorders. Legacy Links is designed by and for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) individuals to provide a culturally sensitive, empathetic space for those navigating the transition from incarceration back into society. Participants in the program are surrounded by a network of compassionate support, receiving personalized services such as case management, mentorship, education and employment assistance, housing support, and access to health care and behavioral health services. The program’s success lies in its holistic and human-centered approach to addressing the complex challenges faced by formerly incarcerated individuals and those recovering from addiction.

The Nueva Vida (New Life) program, implemented by New North Citizens’ Council, Inc. (NNCC), provides recovery-based reentry services for Black and Latino men in Holyoke and Springfield with funding from the Department of Public Health. NNCC has executed a preliminary memorandum of understanding with the Hampden County, Massachusetts, Correctional Center that delineates how Nueva Vida will provide culturally responsive pre-release reentry support services and post-release recovery services, care coordination, overdose prevention, vocational services, HIV/AIDS prevention and education, and family support services. The Nueva Vida project builds on NNCC’s (1) partnership with the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department, (2) status as a respected Latino-governed and -operated nonprofit, (3) experience with supporting both people in recovery and those reentering the community, and (4) commitment to achieving equity and social justice for underserved and marginalized populations.

Learning Objectives

Describe the dislocation theory of addiction and its significance in the development and implementation of the Legacy Links program for formerly incarcerated individuals and those recovering from addiction.
Examine the components and structure of the Legacy Links program, focusing on the holistic approach, culturally sensitive interventions, and the importance of camaraderie and brotherhood in promoting long-term recovery and reintegration success.
Identify strategies for implementing and adapting the principles and practices of the Legacy Links program in other communities and settings, emphasizing the value of community-driven, empathetic, and culturally responsive approaches to supporting individuals impacted by incarceration and addiction.
Apply Nueva Vida’s culturally responsive and collaborative approach to jail-based and community-based interventions.
Apply the principles of social justice, social determinants of health, and cultural responsiveness to reentry services for individuals with a history of incarceration and substance use disorder.

Ron Waddell
Executive Director, Legendary Legacies, Inc., Worchester, Massachusetts

Orlando Mercado
Program Director, Nueva Vida Program, New North Citizens’ Council, Inc.

Providing Medication-assisted Treatment (MAT) in Jails: COSSUP’s Jail-based MAT Peer Mentor Initiative

Jails | Medication-assisted treatment

As a training and technical assistance provider for the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s (BJA) Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP), Advocates for Human Potential, Inc. (AHP) operates the Jail-based Medication-assisted (MAT) Peer Mentor Initiative. The mentor initiative offers jails across the country interested in providing or enhancing their MAT services a unique opportunity to observe and learn from established programs that have demonstrated success in meeting the treatment needs of individuals with opioid use disorders. Each mentor site represents an example of a variety of programs found in diverse settings across the nation.

This session will be a facilitated discussion with a mentor site representative who will talk about their program and what the site offers as a mentor. Representatives from three grantee sites that have been mentees will discuss their sites’ experiences as mentees and what they learned from their onsite visit. The discussion will outline how attendees can apply to become mentor sites and/or mentees and attend site visits. The session will allow time for participant discussion and questions and answers.

Learning Objectives

Describe COSSUP’s Jail-based MAT Peer Mentor Initiative.
Discuss the benefits of peer-to-peer learning.
Apply to participate in the initiative as either a mentor or mentee.

Edmond Hayes
Assistant Superintendent, Director, Opioid Treatment Program, Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, Greenfield, Massachusetts

Levin Schwartz, MSW, LICSW
Assistant Superintendent, Director, Reentry Services, Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, Greenfield, Massachusetts

Jessica Perillo, MS, CADC
Program Manager, Boone County Health Department, Belvidere, Illinois

Stephanie Ruane, MS, LCADC, CCS
Supervisor, Social Services and Substance Abuse Services, Monmouth County Correctional Institution, Freehold, New Jersey

Holly Taylor, CADC
Reentry Coordinator, Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office, Little Rock, Arkansas

4:00 p.m. – 4:15 p.m.
Break

4:15 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Breakout Session D

The Process and Power of Collaboration: Uniting the Behavioral/Substance Use Health Care and Criminal Justice Systems in Order to Provide Necessary Services to Individuals Pre-arrest

Deflection/diversion | First responders

The common challenges that entities encounter when first implementing Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP)-funded programs are coordination and collaboration with multiple organizations and agencies in the community. The specific challenge of gathering community members and stakeholders to form committees or the rapid implementation of services are consistent barriers. Agencies may have differing ideas or competing interests regarding the provision of services to individuals struggling with mental health and/or substance use who commit low-level crimes. Ultimately, all community collaborators and partners must agree on the shared goals for the communities to become safe and healthy. This session will utilize the experience of two COSSUP-funded programs—Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) and Supporting the Pathway to Recovery (SPR)—to highlight how this work can be implemented in a timely manner. Coordination started early, upon receipt of the request for proposal. Numerous organizations/agencies that Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care (UBHC) had previously collaborated with were an integral part of the LEAD/SPR programs’ success. Most of these agencies responded positively and quickly, enabling UBHC to implement the three LEAD work groups (Policy Coordinating Group, Operational Work Group, and Community Leadership Team) quickly and maintain steady engagement of key stakeholders. Meaningful conversations, polite disagreement, and ensuring that no individuals felt ignored were critical to maintaining collaboration and moving the process forward. Building on prior collaborations improves the speed with which a team works together and problem-solves. This leads to innovation, efficient processes, increased success, and improved communication. Through listening to and learning from community collaborators, entities can reach their goals and implement COSSUP-funded programs in a timely manner.

Learning Objectives

List five steps to coordinate meetings among numerous stakeholders.
Discuss the importance of allowing all stakeholders to have a voice.
Examine three ways to build collaborative relationships.

Stephanie Evans, MS
Program Manager, Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care, Piscataway, New Jersey

Micah Hillis, DSW, LCSW
Program Director, Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care, Piscataway, New Jersey

Nicole M. Swiderski, PhD
Supervisor, Research and Grants Unit, New Jersey State Parole Board, Trenton, New Jersey

Supervisor, Research and Grants Unit, New Jersey State Parole Board, Trenton, New Jersey

Nicole M. Swiderski is the supervisor of the Research and Grants Unit and co-coordinator of the New Jersey State Parole Board (NJSPB) Internship Program. She serves as lead researcher and grant program manager of the agency’s Fiscal Year 2021 Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse Program (COSSAP) award, and she previously served as a research assistant for the NJSPB’s Second Chance Act Reentry Program and research consultant to evaluate the effectiveness of the Level of Service Inventory-Revised (LSI-R) in predicting supervised offender recidivism. Dr. Swiderski is dedicated to interdisciplinary research, particularly at the intersection of criminal justice and psychology. Her primary lines of research include offender reentry, cognitive consequences of victimization, domestic violence and sports, and media and crime. Dr. Swiderski is the registered agent, treasurer, and a board member of the Living in New Directions Assistance (LINDA) Organization, which helps justice-involved women struggling with homelessness, mental health, and/or substance use regain their freedom and redefine their future. She is also on the board of trustees in an at-large capacity of the Middle Atlantic States Correctional Association. In addition to her work at the NJSPB, Dr. Swiderski teaches as an adjunct professor at several New Jersey colleges and universities. She has published articles in several interdisciplinary journals and recently co-authored a book, Crime in TV, the News, and Film: Misconceptions, Mischaracterizations, and Misinformation, published by Rowman & Littlefield.

Franklin County, Ohio: Supporting Access to Treatment and Recovery Services Across the Justice Intercepts

Jails | Medication-assisted treatment | Reentry

Local jail data confirm that one of every four individuals booked into the Franklin County, Ohio, Correctional Center requires medical detox from opioids and that an annual average of 21 percent of those who fatally overdose in the county were incarcerated in the jail within 1 year prior to their date of death. The Franklin County Office of Justice Policy and Programs (OJPP) has leveraged Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP)—formerly known as the Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse Program (COSSAP)—funding since 2017 to create evidence- and outcome-based interventions across the justice intercepts to support access to treatment and recovery services for the justice-involved community. A panel from OJPP will provide brief overviews of this continuum of care staffed by multidisciplinary teams, including first responder community deflection; expanding access to harm reduction vending machines through public health partnerships; pre-release cognitive behavioral therapy programming with post-release case management and peer support; jail-based medication-assisted treatment with support groups and discharge planning; distribution of naloxone upon release from jail; two rapid resource centers located in post-custody portions of the local jails to increase access to treatment and reentry services; and a post-release housing respite program for those booked into the jail as homeless. The panelists will discuss successes, challenges, and future goals of each program while opening the floor to attendees to ask questions related to braided funding, program design and operations, incorporation of peer support across the justice intercepts, data collection and analysis, and sustainability.

Learning Objectives

Describe qualitative and quantitative lessons learned from programs applied across the Sequential Intercept Map (SIM).
Apply funding braiding and data collection techniques to increase project sustainability.
Identify and apply innovative solutions to common barriers in program implementation for the justice system.

Caitlin Looney, LISW-S
Grants Administrator, Franklin County Office of Justice Policy and Programs, Columbus, Ohio

Ryan Newsome, MSW, LISW
Social Services Coordinator, Franklin County Office of Justice Policy and Programs, Columbus, Ohio

Token Carter, MS, LPC, DEI
Discharge Planner, Franklin County Office of Justice Policy and Programs, Columbus, Ohio

Learning to Love Puzzles When the Pieces Don’t Fit: Connecting Entities to Enable Effective Diversion/Deflection

Deflection/diversion | First responders | State and local coordination

As police, treatment providers, and other agencies attempt to divert or deflect more people from formal justice system involvement, the importance of partnerships and proper data tracking becomes paramount. No one entity can address the needs of those requiring help, but the proper cooperative net of interlocking agencies can ensure that frontline actors have the necessary resource kit available to them. In addition, field personnel need to have fast and efficient data tracking available to organize cases and conduct reporting and evaluation in order to see the overall picture. This presentation utilizes a case study of Delaware Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) sites in rural and suburban areas to demonstrate how efforts in Delaware have meshed the multitude of entities, conflicting policies, practices, and common methods to divert people effectively. A locally developed toolkit will be presented as well as how local police have implemented a crisis response report into their statewide reporting system. Delaware has also utilized the same data collection system among partners to coordinate case care and conduct statewide surveys. The panel will draw on the experiences of those in the field to address what barriers exist and how people have worked to improve communication between agencies and to track data to provide adequate care to those in need.

Learning Objectives

Learn how to identify and overcome barriers concerning cross-agency communication.
Learn how to utilize learning collaboratives to improve deflection and service provision.
Describe how to utilize data tracking and reporting using a common data system.

Daniel J. O’Connell, PhD
Senior Scientist and Assistant Professor, Center for Drug and Health Studies, University of Delaware Newark, Delaware

Valarie Tickle
Grant Coordinator, Delaware Criminal Justice Council, Wilmington, Delaware

Elizabeth Romero, MBA, MS
Executive Director, Consultant, Rosmaris Group, Warrenton, Virginia

Achieving Long-term Recovery and Reducing Recidivism Through Social Capital Enhancement

Community outreach | Harm reduction | Peer support services

Palm Beach County, Florida, has been disproportionately impacted by the misuse of illicit opioids and prescription drugs and is considered the “epicenter” of the deadly opioid crisis in Florida. The board of county commissioners subsequently identified the opioid epidemic, behavioral health, and substance use disorder (SUD) as a high strategic priority and adopted a strategic goal to establish a system of care that was person-centered and recovery-oriented. Palm Beach County had the highest number of overdose deaths in the state 2 years in a row (Van Arsdale et al., 2022a). In 2021, there were 8,827 emergency department visits for suspected overdoses (Van Arsdale et al., 2022b). Opioids were suspected in 3,099 (35.1 percent) overdose events, stimulants in 926 (10.5 percent) overdose events, and benzodiazepines in 514 (5.8 percent) overdose events (Van Arsdale et al., 2022b). Palm Beach County recognizes that the road to recovery for its community requires a coordinated network of community-based services that are person-centered and recovery-oriented and that build on the strengths and resiliencies of individuals, families, and communities to achieve long-term recovery. These services also improve the health, wellness, and quality of life for those with, or at risk of, alcohol and substance use, including opioid use disorder. Best practice programming includes peer recovery support services that incorporate a full range of social, legal, and other resources that facilitate recovery and wellness and work together to reduce or eliminate environmental and personal barriers to recovery. Also, stable housing plays a vital role in a person’s road to recovery from an SUD. The inability to afford housing costs and the possibility of eviction are stressors that often lead to the misuse of substances, including opioids, thus contributing to a reoccurrence of use and recidivism. Establishing recovery supports that may include housing, employment, treatment, social, and prevention services will assist individuals in achieving recovery and remaining out of the criminal justice system. This presentation will present quantitative and qualitative data collected within a 2-year period through a Florida Atlantic University and Palm Beach County Community Services partnership. This demonstration project seeks to define and measure housing stability standards and other recovery support interventions in the recovery residence environment to determine their impact on long-term recovery outcomes.

Learning Objectives

Identify barriers to long-term recovery and factors that may contribute to recidivism.
Determine the impact of social capital, housing stability, and a recovery-oriented system of care on individuals with criminal justice involvement and substance use histories.
Provide evidence of peer support specialists’ intervention in long-term recovery and recidivism reduction.
Provide evidence of housing stability in long-term recovery and recidivism reduction.

Heather Howard, PhD, LCSW
Associate Professor, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida

Christina Mitchell, CRPS-A
Care Coordinator, Rebel Recovery, West Palm Beach, Florida

Faith Montoya, CRPS
Community Case Manager, Rebel Recovery Florida, West Palm Beach, Florida

Nancy McConnell, MSW, MCAP, CRPS
Chief Executive Officer/Co-founder, Rebel Recovery Florida, West Palm Beach, Florida

State and Local Overdose Fatality Review Implementation and Enhancement

Overdose fatality reviews

Overdose fatality reviews (OFRs) are being used by state and local jurisdictions to assist with understanding substance use and overdose trends and review individual overdose cases using a problem-solving framework to increase collaboration among stakeholders, identify opportunities to prevent future overdoses, and provide recommendations for change in policies and services. This session will highlight how the OFR framework has been implemented at the state and local levels and how this implementation has evolved over time and will share some recommendations identified and implemented to prevent future overdoses.

Learning Objectives

Identify effective approaches to establishing and enhancing an OFR.
Understand how an OFR generates and implements recommendations.
Describe the value of an OFR and the positive benefit to overdose prevention.

Carina Havenstrite
Program Manager, Lackawanna County District Attorney’s Office, Scranton, Pennsylvania

Kelsey Tambasco
Data and Fiscal Analyst, Lackawanna County District Attorney’s Office, Scranton, Pennsylvania

Heather Coia, MSW, LICSW
Overdose Fatality Review Coordinator, Drug Overdose Prevention Program, Rhode Island Department of Health, Providence, Rhode Island

Grants Management: A Discussion With the Office of Justice Programs

Grant management

A critical element of grants management is documentation – if it’s not documented, it didn’t happen! During this session, representatives from OJP will discuss keeping grant contact information up to date, when and how prior approvals need to be requested, what internal controls should be in place, and how to report on grant progress and activities.

Learning Objectives

Cover JustGrants entity management requirements and resources.
Provide information on grant award modification types and processes.
Provide guidance on prior approval requirements and internal controls necessary for grants.
Highlight COSSUP grant performance reporting requirements.

Erin Pfeltz, MA
Division Chief, Programs Office, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice

Jocelyn Linde
State Policy Advisor, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice

Janai Jenkins, MS
State Policy Advisor, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice

Edith Faith Sunga, MSA
Financial Monitoring Manager, Grants Financial Management, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice

Robin LaVallee, MPP
Deputy Project Director, Planning, Performance, and Impact Team, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice

Virtual Reality as a Tool to Deliver Treatment Components for Substance Use Disorder

Prisons | Residential substance abuse treatment (RSAT)

The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction is conducting a randomized controlled trial of an innovative intervention for incarcerated people with substance use disorders (SUDs). The intervention uses a virtual-reality (VR) platform, funded by a Fiscal Year 2018 Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Program (recently renamed the Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program [COSSUP]) grant, to provide participants with a series of 15 informational and skills-building modules. This program aims to increase participants’ ability to navigate the psychological and behavioral pitfalls associated with SUDs. VR modules were created with the input of staff members and incarcerated people to include topics such as coping strategies and asking for help and to allow participants to practice abstinence-focused skills. Incentive videos are provided after each skill has been practiced and mastered. To assess the program’s feasibility, sustainability, and effectiveness, data is being collected on each participant, including misconducts and self-reported perspectives before and after completing the program. Analysis describes the participants and provides a preliminary view of the study findings.

Learning Objectives

Explore VR for providing support to incarcerated people with SUDs.
Describe how a VR-based intervention supports perceptions and expectations of recovery.
Assess how VR affects the conduct of incarcerated people.

Janelle Prueter, MS, CRADC
Research Scholar, Marron Institute of Urban Management, New York University, Brooklyn, New York

Shayne Willis
COSSUP Grant Coordinator, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, Columbus, Ohio

Stephanie Starr, MS
Parole Program Administrator, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, Columbus, Ohio

Maureen Hillhouse, PhD
Senior Research Scholar, Marron Institute of Urban Management, New York University,Brooklyn, New York

Peer Recovery Support Services Mentoring Initiative (PRSSMI): Learning From Others to Enhance Peer Services

Peer-to-peer learning opportunities allow communities and organizations to learn from others and discover innovative ideas that may work in their own programs. The Peer Recovery Support Services Mentoring Initiative (PRSSMI) was established in 2018 as a way to facilitate connecting programs to promote best practices in peer support implementation. In 2023, the PRSSMI has 10 mentor sites from across the country that work with peers through a variety of different settings. This session will introduce preliminary evaluation results from the 2023 PRSSMI cohort, as well as allow current mentor sites to discuss their experiences. In addition, participants will learn the process for applying to be a mentor/mentee for the upcoming cycles.

5:30 pm
Adjourn

5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
Peer Recovery Support Specialist Networking Opportunity Led by Altarum

Day 1 - Forums - 2023 COSSUP National Forum - Tuesday, August 29, 2023

Tuesday, August 29, 2023

Welcoming Plenary

Tim Jeffries, MSW

Senior Policy Advisor, Policy Division, Bureau of Justice Assistance

Presentation of the Colors

Tribal Blessing and Honor Song

Shawn Ironmaker

Capture and Proposal Development Manager, Buffalo Horse Inc., Fort Belknap Indian Community, Hays, Montana

Gregorio Kishketon, MS

Native American/Alaska Native Liaison, Center for Minority Veterans, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC

The Power of Recovery and Hope

Siobhan A. Morse, MHSA, CRC, CAI, MAC

Product Director, Addiction Services, Universal Health Services, Inc.

Welcoming Remarks From U.S. Department of Justice Leadership

Amy Solomon, MPP

Assistant Attorney General, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice

COSSUP Vision—The Power of Hope: Preventing Overdose and Supporting Communities and Those in Recovery

Karhlton Moore

Director, Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice

Introduction to the Office of Justice Programs

Karhlton Moore

Director, Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice

Nancy La Vigne, MPA, PhD

Director, National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice

Kristina Rose, MS

Director, Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice

Liz Ryan, MS

Administrator, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice

Kevin M. Scott, PhD

Principal Deputy Director, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice

Welcoming Remarks From U.S. Department of Justice Leadership

Vanita Gupta, JD

Associate Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice

Combatting Fatal Overdoses: A Data-Driven and Multidisciplinary Approach to All Six Deflection Pathways

Meagan Guthrie, MA, CDCA

Director, Hamilton County Office of Addiction Response, Cincinnati, Ohio

Captain Tom Fallon

Commander, Hamilton County Heroin Coalition Task Force, Cincinnati, Ohio

It Takes a Village…To Serve the People of St. Louis County, Minnesota

Jennifer Swanson, MPA

COSSUP Program Coordinator, Recovery Alliance Duluth, Duluth, Minnesota

Jessica Pete

Jail Administrator, St. Louis County Sheriff’s Department, Duluth, Minnesota

Jason Ringdahl

Sergeant, St. Louis County Jail, Duluth, Minnesota

Alabama’s Substance Use Data Repository

Christopher Sellers, MPH

Director of Analytics, Alabama Department of Mental Health, Montgomery, Alabama

Increasing Peer Recovery Support Services (PRSS) Retention Through Promoting Organizational Wellness

Tiffany Lombardo, MA, LISW-S, LICDC-CS

Project Director, Altarum

Joseph Hogan-Sanchez

Director of Programs, Faces and Voices of Recovery, Austin, Texas

Sadie Thompson, CPSS

Chief Implementation Officer, Wellbeing Initiative, Inc., Lincoln, Nebraska

Leveraging Partnerships to Inform Prevention: Strategic Use of Overdose Fatality Review and Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Data

Patrick Knue

Director, Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, Institute for Intergovernmental Research

Melissa Heinen, RN, MPH

Senior Research Associate/Manager, Overdose Fatality Review, Institute for Intergovernmental Research

The Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network (JCOIN): Partnering to Support Practice Change

Tisha Wiley, PhD

Chief, Services Research Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse

Ariel Roddy, PhD

Assistant Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona

Shannon Gwin Mitchell, PhD

Senior Research Scientist, Friends Research Institute, Baltimore, Maryland

Jessica Hulsey

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Addiction Policy Forum, Bethesda, Maryland

Community Corrections Alternative Program: An Alternative to Incarceration for Those With Substance Use Disorder

Hannah White, MA

Program Manager, Community Corrections Alternative Program, Virginia Department of Corrections, Richmond, Virginia

Joseph P. Owen

Superintendent, Brunswick Community Correctional Alternative Program, Lawrenceville, Virginia

Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion in New Mexico: A Tale of Two Programs

Elizabeth Peterson, MPH

COSSUP Administrative Program Manager, Santa Fe County Community Services Department, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Michael Delgado

Captain, Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office, Santa Fe, New Mexico