New grant brings new recovery options for community corrections participants

A new grant from the Department of Justice will add more resources for Dubois County Community Corrections to address substance abuse.

The Community Opioid and Stimulant Abuse Program (COSAP) grant will provide $600,000 over three years to community corrections.

The majority of the funding will facilitate a therapeutic community addressing those specific substance abuse issues while participants are in work release.

“Community corrections already has a really robust treatment programming approach,” Director Megan Durlauf explained.

But the funding could be used to impact those individuals coming into the work release program who face an uphill trek due to their circumstances. For example, circumstances like being jobless or needing to finish their high school diploma can significantly impact their successful completion of a treatment program.

Dubois County Community Corrections is funded through grants and user fees. When a participant is transferred to community corrections, they have ten working days to find a job and begin working to pay those fees.

“Typically, they go for the first job that can give them the opportunity to be released for work release, whether it pays well, has benefits, or not,” Durlauf explained. “Because they are desperate to get out and get working and not be in our facility 24/7.”

Under the fee structure of $100 a week, what usually happens is a community corrections participant will accrue about three to four weeks of dues before they receive their first paycheck. That $300 to $400 is then spread out over the weeks they have left in the program.

Durlauf would like to use some of the new funding to relieve the economic pressure for new participants who qualify under the grant guidelines.

“When someone is struggling with substance abuse disorder, especially when we first get them, their brains are still in this fight-or-flight response of trying to meet those basic needs nonstop,” she explained. “This will allow them to allocate that brain space to recovery.”

By relieving them of the burden of having to find a job immediately, community corrections can slot them into evidence-based therapies more quickly and more intensely when they first arrive in the facility. This can potentially lead to better chances for recovery and successful reintegration into our communities.

“Research suggests that 300 to 400 dosage hours (time in an evidence-based program) is necessary to really impact those moderate to high-risk offenders,” Durlauf said. “High risk meaning these are individuals who are more likely to re-offend.”

When someone in community corrections is working 40 hours a week, it isn’t possible to obtain those dosage hours with the limited amount of time left in their schedules.
“This is creating a pathway to increased dosage opportunities,” Durlauf said.

Along with easing this burden and increasing therapy time, the money will also be used to connect with outside resources and mental health professionals to work with community correction participants. This will make a higher level of treatment available for the program participants and could lead to connections for continued therapy after they leave community corrections.

Also, working with outside entities that provide services inside community corrections can be more sustainable.

“We are always scrounging for money,” Durlauf said. “It is way more sustainable long term because people offering those sorts of services can also bill for their services through Medicaid or other insurance. So, the likelihood to maintain the program for a longer term is greater.”

Community corrections plans on hiring a program manager for the new grant. That person will also take on case management and therapeutic roles.

Durlauf noted this is important for Dubois County because it gives those individuals involved in the justice system more opportunities to treat their substance use disorders. “And an increased likelihood that they will be able to come out of the justice system and be more successful, safer, better parents, better employees,” she said.

“Whenever we start talking about these people as our neighbors, friends and family, it kind of shifts the narrative to us longing for them to get healthy again,” Durlauf said. “And this program will give them the opportunity to do that. It is going to increase their chances for long-term success.”