Peer recovery support services (PRSS) are increasingly being offered across diverse criminal justice settings to address opioid abuse and achieve positive outcomes. The power and potential of PRSS come from the unique roles that peers play, promoting both hope and pragmatic steps for change. Community Justice Programs offer comprehensive case management, support, and advocacy to individuals with behavioral health and substance use disorders at all points of the justice system continuum. Since 1972, the Community Justice Program in the Department of Psychiatry and Neurobiology at the University of Alabama (UAB) has been committed to developing programs in response to current and emerging challenges facing the community within the justice, behavioral health, and substance abuse systems. The program relies on research-based strategies to identify needs, develop solutions to address system gaps, and evaluate program effectiveness to improve services coordination.

This session:

• Highlights the history of the Community Justice Program, as well as the partnerships that make it work.
• Clarifies why UAB determined that implementing peer support is important.
• Describes the work of peers at varying points of the justice system continuum and challenges they face in the areas of specialty court and treatment.
• Discusses how the Community Justice Program evaluates the impact of its programs.

To view a PDF version of the slide deck from this webinar, click here.