Evaluating Virginia's State Opioid Response Grant (SOR) | Part IV: Recovery

Welcome to the final part of our series in which we share findings from year one of Virginia’s State Opioid Response (SOR) Grant. This week, we continue our series with a look at progress related to Virginia's recovery efforts. We also share reflections on how recovery services agencies and Peer Recovery Specialists have responded to the emerging COVID-19 crisis, and how their work has quickly adapted to avoid disruptions in recovery services.

State Opioid Response grant funded Peer Recovery Specialists are Creating an Impact Across Virginia

According to SAMHSA, peer support effectively impacts individuals in recovery in many ways including increased agency and empowerment to create positive changes in their lives; increased engagement in self-care, social support and social functioning; decreased hospital admission rates; and decreased substance use and mental health symptoms.[1]

The overarching SOR recovery grant goal is to expand the implementation of recovery services across a variety of settings, including community health agencies known as Community Service Boards (CSB), hospitals and emergency departments, colleges/universities, and justice system settings. The primary strategy focuses on using SOR grant funds to train and certify Peer Recovery Specialists (PRS) to offer an array of recovery services across these settings. To date, a total of 512 individuals completed the PRS training.

Key accomplishments from the first year include:

• 34 of the 40 CSBs have implemented peer recovery support services for individuals with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) or at risk of OUD, and SOR-funded PRS have provided recovery services to 5,490 individuals. Recovery services provided include: recovery coaching and relapse prevention, self-help support, family support and education, referrals to community services, transportation, support with job training and employment, and assistance with securing housing.

• 23 regional jail locations are providing SOR-funded recovery services and/or Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT), including outpatient groups, discharge & reentry planning, and warm hand-offs to community health services.

• More than 30 hospitals offer peer recovery services in emergency departments.

• The SOR grant funded the provision and expansion of collegiate recovery programs (CRP) throughout Virginia. Currently, eight colleges and universities have implemented or expanded their CRPs with SOR funding.

Individuals receiving SOR funded services reported that working with peers helps support treatment and recovery outcomes. Over 95% of these individuals said working with a peer helped them with recovery and 88% said working with a peer helped them maintain sobriety.

In the remaining months of the SOR grant, recovery efforts will be focused on generating guidelines for effective peer recovery program implementation, including successes, challenges and lessons learned within each of the four peer recovery service settings: CSBs, hospitals and emergency departments, colleges/universities, and justice systems. The aim of this effort is to promote peer recovery program expansion and sustainability planning. 

Recovery Services in the Time of COVID-19

Connection is a central aspect of recovery and a key role that peer recovery specialists play. The necessary social distancing practices to prevent the spread of COVID-19 has had a significant impact for those in recovery and in need of connection and community to maintain successful recovery. Virginia's CSBs have quickly shifted to offering remote peer-based recovery services to ensure clients in recovery are supported during this challenging time. 

OMNI, in partnership with DBHDS, hosted a COVID-19 Roundtable for CSBs to share how their agencies have adapted to telehealth remote service provision. Similar to treatment services, some clients have found a transition to remote recovery services helpful, while other clients in need of recovery support do not have regular access to these methods of communication and are unable to receive remote services. Creative solutions for this are in the works, including setting up remote stations within CSBs that allow clients to come in and have a telehealth visit with a provider while adhering to appropriate distancing guidelines. Unemployment has also impacted many clients and needs for wraparound services such as transportation and housing have increased.

Despite these challenges, the transition to remote recovery service provision may help individuals in recovery foster and maintain connection to a recovery community in new and unexpected ways. We will continue to examine the impact of COVID-19 on CSB recovery service provision and their clients over time.

Download the Report

[1] https://www.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/programs_campaigns/brss_tacs/value-of-peers-2017.pdf