NORTHAMPTON — The city’s Department of Health and Human Services has been selected as a recipient of a significant multi-year grant totaling $595,998 from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
This funding, part of the state’s Diversion to Care initiative, is designed to reduce exposure to the criminal justice system, with a focus on supporting individuals with substance use disorder.
The DivCare initiative will foster new collaborations and strengthen existing partnerships among community organizations, local public health agencies, public safety departments and criminal justice system entities. Through these efforts, the program aims to expand access to harm reduction services and address the needs of communities disproportionately impacted by substance use and overdose.
“The Department of Health and Human Services is in a primed position to receive this funding. With a history of programming that promotes access to treatment and harm reduction, in tandem with the mission of the Division of Community Care, DHHS, and our partners will be well-suited to look across systems and enhance collaborative efforts,” said Health Commissioner Merridith O’Leary. “Our ultimate goal is to increase positive health outcomes, address areas of inequity and limit interactions with the justice system, particularly where substance use is at the core.”
In the first year of funding, awardees will develop regional action plans focused on overdose prevention along the criminal justice system intercept points, as outlined by SAMHSA’s [the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration] Sequential Intercept Model. The model analyzes the points at which individuals with substance use disorder encounter and move through the criminal justice system.
Years two and three will involved the implementation of a shared community overdose prevention plan and evaluation efforts.
“It has been over five years since community partners have come together to formally look across systems and address where gaps exist, and the landscape has changed drastically since the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Director of Prevention Taylor McAndrew. “More importantly, we have also been shifting our lens to look closely at who is being disproportionately impacted and facing unjust barriers. DivCare will provide partners the platform and guidance to do just that.”
The DivCare initiative will be led by Health and Human Services’ multidisciplinary coalition Hampshire HOPE, which has been in existence since 2018 and aims to address the impacts of substance use across the county. Additional partners on this project will include local law enforcement and public safety representatives, behavioral health, harm reduction, medical providers and housing agencies.
“I think what we were excited about with this opportunity is a big piece of year one is facilitating a sequential intercept mapping workshop,” McAndrew explained. “The primary objective is to bring together the court systems, the sheriff, the DA, probation, re-entry folks, along with people in the community who are outside the criminal legal system but work with individuals who might be struggling with addiction issues.”
Working with those in harm reduction work as well as hospital and medical providers, the review of the system as a whole allows for cross reference on what works, what doesn’t and where people are falling through the gaps.
“Really the ultimate goal is that individuals whose root cause is addiction – and also that might be struggling with stable housing, access to primary care — how can we meet those needs in the community before their situation escalates to involve the police or the court system.,” McAndrew said. “Divert folks away from that system and if they are in the legal system, how can we meet their needs when they reenter the community.”
In total, the DivCare initiative represents $2.6 million in grants over the next three years. Fellow grant recipients are in the communities of Brockton, Revere, Worcester, and Riverbend in Lowell. For more information or questions about Northampton’s plans for the DivCare grant contact the Department of Health and Human Services.
While it is much too early to predict what the workshop will uncover about the system’s efficiencies and deficiencies, McAndrew said she hopes groups like Northampton’s Division of Community Care and Amherst’s CRESS are able to provide updates on how their work has played out thus far. Also, she hopes they can identify new resources that can be adapted to their work as the medical care world continues to shift.
“We are so grateful, especially in the national landscape, to be running these programs,” McAndrew said. “We really value that programs like this are being put out, especially programs that look at the whole person and do want to shift from the criminal legal system to community work.”
