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11/10/2008

SAMHSA Awards More Than $17.4 Million to Help Expand Adult Drug Courts

 

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) announced the award of 20 new grants for $17.4 million over the next three years to expand the treatment capability of drug courts. The grants will be used to expand and/or enhance substance abuse treatment services in “problem solving” courts, which use the treatment drug court model in order to provide alcohol and drug treatment, recovery support services supporting substance abuse treatment, screening, assessment, case management, and program coordination to adult defendants/offenders. The program will be administered by SAMHSA’s Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. One of the awardee’s is Pinellas County Adult Drug Court who will receive $300,000 each year, over the course of the next three years

The Pinellas County Adult Drug Court Collaborative is a partnership between the 6th Judicial Circuit Court, Operation PAR, Inc., WestCare GulfCoast-Florida, Inc., and the University of South Florida’s Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute. Pinellas County has identified a gap in treatment capacity for drug court cases involving female offenders that require more evidence-based practices and more structured referral services to adequately address the issues of these offenders. Due to the specialized needs of this population, a Motivational Enhancement Therapy/Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (MET/CBT 12) treatment model is necessary to effectively respond to the increasing population of female offenders who are misusing and/or abusing prescription drugs. The purpose of the Pinellas County Adult Drug Court Collaborative is to: (1) increase capacity to serve women in a gender-specific, culturally responsive model (2) implement the GAIN, a standardized screening and assessment to accurately identify co-occurring disorders, trauma, (3) implement evidence-based treatment, MET/CBT 12 sessions (4) screen for prescription drug issues, and (5) develop uniform drug court treatment and administrative protocols.

Dr. Kathleen Moore will oversee the evaluation component of the grant that will focus on both process measures and program outcomes and will include collection of both qualitative and quantitative data. The process evaluation will assist the Pinellas County Adult Drug Court to meet its goals and objectives of assessing the effectiveness of program implementation and to provide recommendations for improving key program functions and activities such as referral, screening and assessment, treatment services, and use of sanctions and incentives. The outcome evaluation will assist in determining the program’s effectiveness in influencing recidivism, use of jail time, substance abuse, and employment among offenders. Data obtained from the Drug Court process and outcome evaluation will be routinely monitored in order to modify program components, procedures, and approaches, and to justify sustainability of the program.