Press Release: 2024-12-04

Healey-Driscoll administration awards $2.6 million to launch diversion program for people with substance use disorder

 

Brockton, Northampton, Revere, Worcester, and Riverbend in Lowell to receive funding to offer community-informed overdose prevention and harm reduction services

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

12/03/2024

MEDIA CONTACT 

Katheleen Conti, Assistant Director of Media Relations

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Call Katheleen Conti, Assistant Director of Media Relations at 617-624-5006

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Email Katheleen Conti, Assistant Director of Media Relations at katheleen.m.conti@mass.gov

BOSTON — As part of ongoing efforts to address the state’s overdose crisis, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) today announced $2.6 million in grants over the next three years to support the launch of an initiative aimed at reducing exposure to the criminal legal system among people with substance use disorder.

The program, Diversion to Care (DivCare), seeks to establish new collaborations with community organizations and enhance existing ones among local public health, public safety, and criminal legal system partners to promote community-based harm reduction services among communities disproportionately impacted by overdoses, specifically Black, Latino, and Native American communities.

Grant recipients are Riverbend (formerly Lowell House) in Lowell, and the cities of Brockton, Northampton, Revere, and Worcester.

“We can and we must continue to address the overdose and opioid crisis so that people can access treatment that meets them where they are at and does not perpetuate stigma,” saidSecretary of Health and Human Services Kate Walsh. “This funding shows our commitment to supporting equity-informed, evidence-based initiatives that encourage and promote safety, treatment, and harm reduction. This is part of our ongoing efforts to target interventions that effectively reach those who bear some of the heaviest burdens of substance use disorder and overdose.”

“Overdoses are preventable. That is why we continue to work hard to expand and strengthen harm reduction services, especially in Black, Latino, and Indigenous communities where there is a disproportionate burden of fatal overdoses,” said Public Health Commissioner Robbie Goldstein, MD, PhD. “This program will support communities facing high overdose rates by diverting residents struggling with substance use disorder away from the criminal legal system and toward culturally informed life-saving services.”

“Diverting individuals with substance use disorder away from the criminal legal system and toward life-saving care not only preserves their health and dignity but also strengthens our communities,” said Andrew Peck, Undersecretary of Criminal Justice at the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security. “This program’s focus on an equitable, community-centered harm reduction approach recognizes the disproportionate impact of overdoses on communities of color and prioritizes a compassionate, evidence-driven approach to public safety. By aligning with local partners, we are paving the way for safer and healthier outcomes for those most at risk.”

DivCare will encourage communities with high rates of overdose to engage in a collaborative process to identify alternative responses to substance use and overdose that center racial equity and prioritize evidence-based harm reduction, recovery support, and treatment services.

Alternative responses will be at the intersection of public health and public safety and be designed to divert people with a substance use disorder to appropriate services when they come in contact with the criminal legal system.

“People will remain in the shadows if substance use continues to be stigmatized and criminalized,” said Deirdre Calvert, Director of the Bureau of Substance Addiction Services at DPH. “Through this initiative, we can center health and racial equity so that those living with substance use disorder can be supported in making healthy choices for their lives, without shame or the fear of punishment.”

Funding for DivCare will begin in December 2024 and comes from two federal sources: the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Grants to Prevent Prescription Drug/Opioid Overdose-Related Deaths (via DPH), and the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program site-based grants (via EOPSS).

In the first year of funding, awardees will develop community action plans that will be community-vetted and focused on overdose prevention along the criminal legal system intercept points as outlined by SAMHSA’s Sequential Intercept Model (SIM). The model maps the points at which individuals with behavioral health and substance use disorder encounter and move through the criminal justice system, including by way of law enforcement, court hearings, detention, reentry, and community corrections, such as parole and probation. The second year of funding will involve implementation of the enhanced community overdose prevention plan along the criminal legal system intercept points. In the third year, awardees will continue with program implementation and participate in evaluation activities.