(The Center Square) – Six Pennsylvania programs have been awarded grants of up to $1.5 million to support long-term recovery for those suffering from substance use disorder.
Funding is administered by the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs and has been directed toward programs that focus on non-clinical services which emphasize life skills and resources necessary for ongoing success in recovery.
“Having accessible community supports is fundamental to recovery,” said DDAP Secretary Dr. Latika Davis-Jones.“This funding will directly improve care delivery and recovery services by addressing the four main areas of recovery: health, home, purpose, and community.”
Recipients demonstrate the pervasive nature of the opioid epidemic with two grants going to programs in Philadelphia, two to Allegheny County, and two to rural communities in the Northeast region where crude death rates are higher than the state average.
Many of these programs rely largely on peer support. The model, which provides both affordability and accountability within a dedicated community, is essential to Alcoholics Anonymous and subsequent 12-step programs which have long been the bedrock of recovery treatment.
In Allegheny County, Educational Data Systems, helps people with job skills and placement. Veteran’s Place, Washington Boulevard supports veterans with a history of opiate use with one-on-one case management and access to vital resources.
New Roots offers peer-driven recovery services to people in the Northeast region of the state. The organization has partnered with the Food Dignity Movement which purchases surplus produce from farmers and distributes it to non-profit organizations.
Northbound & Co. in Monroe County emphasizes community building in rural parts of the state and offers free services from traditional 12-step meetings to financial literacy and yoga classes.
In Philadelphia, Public Health Management Corporation’s New Pathways Project serves people who are not ready to enter treatment programs. Unity Recovery offers free community-based support, including a gaming center open three days per week.
The DDAP says that with this funding, each of the programs will be able to provide recovery planning, peer-to-peer support, regular phone check-ins, support groups, and educational events around health, wellness, and recovery.
Ongoing care is especially important for those with opioid use disorder, wherein a single relapse can have fatal consequences as individual tolerance decreases and levels of deadly fentanyl in the street supply increase.
The funding comes from a national pool of just under $1.5 billion distributed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Its State Opioid Response grants are awarded to individual states to support programs meant to combat the ongoing opioid epidemic.
Overdose deaths in the state have slowly begun to decline from a peak in 2021, which nearly met 2017’s all-time high. A major reason for the downward trend is education about and the proliferation of Naloxone to first responders, drug users, and the public, which rapidly reverses the effects of opioids.
The number remains more than twice what it was in 2012, with someone in the state dying of an overdose every two hours according to the Pennsylvania Office of Drug Surveillance and Misuse Prevention. Of 4,464 deaths in 2023, 3,470 involved Fentanyl.
