About the Project

This three year project works with female drug court offenders in a nationally recognized treatment model to enhance a person’s motivation to change. The grant is from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a federal regulatory agency that operates under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The program features court-supervised, comprehensive treatment for eligible non-violent felony offenders and is managed by Pinellas County Drug Court.

Operation PAR, West Care Gulf Coast-Florida and the University of South Florida’s Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute (FMHI) focus on the client’s motivation for change and the enhancement of coping skills for dealing with traumas that the clients may face with abuse of prescription drugs. One goal of the program is to develop uniform Drug Court treatment and administrative procedures for dealing prescription drug offenders.

 Other objectives include:       

1. Increasing Pinellas Drug Court’s capacity to serve women in gender-specific, culturally appropriate environments;
2. Utilizing a standardized screening assessment to accurately identify co-occurring disorders and trauma;
3. Putting evidence based treatment into operation;
4. Screening for prescription drug abuse.

Principal Investigator	Kathleen Moore, PhD
Co-PI	M. Scott Young, PhD
Funding Agency	Pinellas County Justice and Consumer Services
Award Amount	$70,530
Dates	10/01/2008 - 09/30/2011