Increasing Access to Residential Treatment for Low-Income Pregnant, Postpartum, & Parenting Women and Their Families in Southwest Washington State - “Increasing Access to Residential Treatment for Pregnant, Postpartum, and Parenting Women and Their Families in Southwest Washington State” provides clinically appropriate, evidence-based treatment and recovery supports for low-income pregnant and postpartum women with opioid use disorders (OUD), substance use disorders (SUD), or co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders (COD) and their minor children and families through a well-coordinated and integrated system of care. Program primarily serves residents of Clark, Skamania, and Cowlitz Counties, but accepts patients from anywhere in the state, and patients from the bordering state of Oregon. More than 50% of the population of focus is in underserved communities greatly impacted by SUD. There are no other residential treatment programs serving the population of focus in Washington State’s fourth-largest urban area; Cowlitz County closed their 16-bed PPW program in 2022. Lifeline Connections’ PPW program opened fall 2018 and was approaching sustainability when COVID-19 happened sixteen months later. It currently operates at 50% capacity. With SAMHSA grant funding, the PPW program is poised to stabilize and grow to meet the needs of the region. Goals of the project are to: (1) Improve the mental and physical health of women and children involved in the program, and reduce infant and maternal mortality among populations with high needs; (2) reduce the negative impacts of SUD on participants and their children and families, (3) Decrease disruption of family units through improved access and retention in treatment. In each year of the project, we will achieve the following measurable outcomes: (1) 90% of pregnant women in care will deliver full-term babies, and 90% will deliver healthy birth-weight babies; (2) 80% of children will demonstrate progress on age appropriate development in social-emotional, gross motor, fine motor, language, and cognitive skills; (3) increase outreach to marginalized groups by conducting a minimum of one presentation quarterly to community organizations serving people of color, LGBTQI+, and tribal members; (4) 75% of women who complete treatment will abstain from substance use 90 days following discharge from residential program; (5) 100% of participants with OUD will be offered access to appropriate harm reduction supplies and overdose prevention education; (6) 80% of families will demonstrate improved parenting and increased family functioning; (7) 90% of women who complete residential treatment will transition to outpatient or recovery support services in the community; and (8) 75% of the women will have or establish family unification or unification plans with one or more children by discharge from residential treatment. We will achieve these goals and objectives by providing evidence-based treatment services, case management, harm reduction, and recovery support services, both directly and through established partnerships and referral agreements with qualified community agencies serving the population of focus. Increased outreach to marginalized and high needs communities will start immediately upon award and continue throughout the project. With the recent closure of the PPW program in Cowlitz County to our immediate north, we anticipate strong demand for services. Under this grant, we anticipate serving at least 40 pregnant and postpartum women in the first year, and 45 women in years two through five, for a total of 220 unduplicated women over the course of the 5-year project.
