At Tuesday’s regular meeting, Pinellas County Commission plans to formally announce its receipt of nearly $325,000 in federal grant funding for a newly begun substance abuse treatment program.
“Elevate: Raising Problem Solving to Another Level” aims to reduce crime and substance abuse among high risk/high need, nonviolent youthful offenders aged 18-30 diagnosed with a substance abuse disorder, have experienced trauma, and may also be struggling with a mild co-occurring mental health disorder.
The program’s nearly $325,000 in federal grant funding came from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAHMSA). It will go toward funding the Elevate program throughout the 2016 fiscal year, which began on October 1.
No match money was required from the county to receive the grant.
Additional federal funding — which will be distributed by both SAHMSA and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) — will be given to the Elevate program over the next two fiscal years.
Elevate began on September 30 and is planned to be funded until September 29, 2018. Over the course of that time, the county expects at least 185 youthful offenders to enroll.
And while the Elevate program is new to Pinellas County, its grant award is actually a follow-up to a previous joint SAMHSA and BJA grant award for Pinellas County’s past young adult substance abuse treatment program, the YouCan! program, which ended on the day Elevate began.
YouCan! provided intensive, evidence-based, gender-specific substance abuse treatment to young adults with prescription drug addictions. Its methods yielded some very positive results.
A target for YouCan! participants served was set at 185 over three years. During that period, 192 (104 percent) eligible participants were referred for evaluation. Of those eligible participants, 166 (90 percent) assessments were completed. Of those completed assessments, 154 (83 percent) also completed intake and received services through the grant. Exactly 39 of those participants who completed intake and received services through the grant successfully completed treatment, and 28 graduated from Drug Court.
At the program’s close, 37 participants were still active in treatment, while 29 participants who were discharged unsuccessfully remained in Drug Court and have been referred to a higher level of treatment.
The original YouCan! grant proposal also called for follow-up evaluations for each participant. They were held six months and 12 months after each participant’s intake date. An 89 percent follow-up rate was observed at six months, and a 71 percent at 12 months. Both those figures, according to the county, are well above the average for grants with similar reporting requirements.
The new Elevate program is projected to do the same or better than the YouCan! program.
Elevate will rely on drug courts, which have been demonstrated to reduce recidivism and substance abuse among high-risk substance abusing offenders.
Drug courts focus on early, continuous, and intense treatment; close judicial supervision and involvement; mandatory and random drug testing; community supervision; appropriate incentives and sanctions; and recovery support services.
U.S. drug courts fall under the legal class of problem-solving courts, which aim to address the underlying problems that contribute to criminal behavior. They take a hands-on approach to drug addicts by ordering them into treatment, rather than perpetuating the revolving door of court and prison.
