Saturday, May 10, 2025
5/10/2025
Maintaining Independence and Sobriety Through Systems Integration, Outreach, and Networking-Mill Cities - MISSION Mill Cities Abstract Co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders are common among drug court participants and a great need exists for enhanced care coordination between the court and treatment systems. The Massachusetts Administrative Office of the Trial Court AOTC, in collaboration with the evaluator (University of Massachusetts), a provider, the state substance use and mental health authorities, and other local partners, requests $2 million dollars from the Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration . The proposed project MISSION Mill Cities is to to enhance the Lawrence and Lowell Drug Courts (LLDC) by embedding an evidence-based co-occurring disorders wrap-around treatment called Maintaining Independence and Sobriety Through Systems Integration, Outreach and Networking-Criminal Justice (MISSION-CJ). This model, tested in a number of other SAMHSA grants, systematically integrates case management, co-occurring disorders treatment, peer support, vocational supports, and trauma informed care into a single, coordinated service delivery approach. The goals of the proposed project are to reduce criminal recidivism, improve mental health and substance abuse outcomes, and increase access to employment among drug court participants by offering MISSION-CJ to facilitate care between the LLDC and community providers. In this proposed project, which we will call Maintaining Independence and Sobriety Through Systems Integration, Outreach, and Networking-Mill Cities (MMC), we intend to serve 40 clients a year, and a total of 200 clients over 5 years, in the LLDC who have a co-occurring mental health and substance use disorder. Clients will receive one year of MISSION-CJ services delivered by a case manager and peer team, which also will link program participants to other needed community based services, including medical benefits and medication-assisted treatments. The University of Massachusetts Medical School, developer of the MISSION-CJ model, will provide staff training, project coordination and perform the evaluation. The Administrative Office of the Massachusetts Trial Court will be the grant recipient and the Lawrence and Lowell Drug Courts will be the sites embedding the services within the court. An experienced provider, Gavin Foundation will deliver these new MISSION-CJ services within the court. Representatives from the Department of Mental Health, the Department of Public Health, and the Massachusetts Probation Service will serve in a leadership capacity on this grant, and assist with sustainability planning. This project received input during the planning phase from district court judges, state agencies, community treatment providers, and is consistent with the 10 key elements of the drug court model. This project is innovative in that it will embed peer and case management teams that will use an evidence-based, wrap-around model previously developed with SAMHSA funding to specifically improve coordination between the courts, clients, and community-based treatment providers.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).