Running head: Partners in Recovery

Partners in Recovery Research Project Tina Hopkins-Dukes Colorado State University

Running head: Partners in Recovery

Research Question: How does Partners in Recovery program affect recidivism rates? Literature Review: Drug addiction has escalated to the point where many now see it as a disease. If you think of the word disease, you can see where drug addiction could be classified as a dis-ease of the body and mind. In order for the recovery of drug addiction to occur, there needs to be a healing of the body and mind, as well as a change in behavior. The challenge is to meet the needs of the addict while helping them to maintain sobriety and change their attitudes and behaviors. This can be difficult when society, friends, and family members have given up on those who have become addicted to drugs and alcohol. Addicts become unmotivated to change because they do not have the support and resources they need to change their thoughts and behaviors. Self-Identity Many times, people label drug users as spoiled or no good, which gives them a poor self-identity and affects their self-esteem. These labels disempower and trap individuals into thinking they cannot change their lives. They believe that they are the problem, rather than that they have a problem. According to authors Neale, Nettleton and Pickering (2007), dramaturgy can help individuals see that they may make a mistake, but that does not mean that it has to stay with them forever. With dramaturgy, recovering addicts can see the countless other identities and personal characteristics that they have such as caring parent, loving friend, or devoted spouse (2007). The impressions of others tend to influence ones self view, even if that view differs from reality. These ideas may keep recovering addicts from seeing their true potentials and changing their lives. Addicts believe that they are spoiled or abnormal and may not see that they are much more than that. Social stigmas are a concern that all drug users have to face and overcome in order to change their lives.

Running head: Partners in Recovery

Familial Relationships Family relationships also play a significant role in the recovery process. The results of a study done by Knight and Simpson (1996) show that client perceptions of the quality of family and peer relations are measured by the degree of conflict among family members as well as client association with deviant peers: these perceptions changed during the first 90 days of drug abuse treatment. Additionally, positive changes in family conflict and peer deviance were related to behavioral improvements for clients. These results showed that decreased family conflict, such as blaming and disagreements, play as much a role in the process of recovery as peer drug use. This study suggested that treatment intervention should include focusing on family relationships the improvement of familial communication, and the relationships between family and peer groups. Intervention Programs In order to improve the chances of success, intervention and treatment programs must also be individually tailored to meet the specific needs of the client. The results suggested that positive changes in family and peer relationships were associated with a reduction in the use of illegal drugs and involvement in illegal activity (Knight & Simpson 1996). Treatment intervention strategies should focus on strengthening positive friendships, reducing family stress and conflict and lessening the interaction of deviant peers. Knight and Simpson suggest that these are the principles in which many self-help groups such as AA/NA are based, which may account for their popularity and success (1996). Community Community is also a major part of the long-term recovery process of addiction. The three crucial treatment-related strategies that involve community in the recovery process are outreach,

Running head: Partners in Recovery

inreach, and recovery community building (White 2009). The outreach process includes the use of clinical services for treatment of addiction. Inreach involves using the social networks and family members in the recovery process. Recovery community building is building communities that support and reflect recovery from addiction (2009). An example of recovery community building would be taking a druginfested community and surrounding it with drug treatment and support centers. By adding the community to the addiction recovery process the person recovering becomes a part of the community, which in turn means that the community becomes a part of the persons recovery. The community is enhanced with knowledge of addiction treatment and an acceptance of recovering people. The community then becomes a welcoming place for recovering addicts rather than a place where they are cast aside as problems. Perspective Recovery must be viewed from the perspective of the addict. McIntosh and McKeganey (2001) found that, based on the interviews of recovering addicts, two factors emerged as important to the success of their recover: (1) a motivation to stop using based on a desire to restore a damaged identity and (2) a sense of a future potentially different from the present. The turning point for an addict occurs when they have hit rock bottom and possess a vision of a better future for themselves. The decision to stop using drugs is in relation to the users sense of self; they must be ready to stop. Although they may have had a crisis of some sort that led to their stopping the use of illegal drugs, the only way they will continue to refrain from drug use is if they feel they can restore their sense of self and improve their life situation (McIntosh and McKeganey 2001).

Running head: Partners in Recovery

Achievability According to the literature, not only is it necessary for a recovering addict to desire an alternative lifestyle, but they must also perceive that lifestyle as achievable. McIntosh and McKeganey (2001) suggest achievability by offering assistance in gaining employment with local employers. They discourage the use of drug courts since these courts threaten jail time for those that do not stop using drugs. As their study revealed, the motivation to quit using and stay off drugs was an intrinsic rather than extrinsic motivational process. This may suggest drug courts need to rethink their strategies for keeping drug addicts off drugs. Drug court As an alternative to jail time, offenders can participate in Adult Drug Court (ADC), which is designed to provide substance abuse treatment while holding offenders accountable to their criminal offense. The issue is that drug court lacks an all-inclusive life skills program that promotes behavior changes. Life skills workshops include positive thinking, personal wellness, relationship rebuilding, professional development, practical living and pro-social skills. ADC has been proven to be one of the most effective tools to reduce substance abuse and crime in our communities. One year after graduation from ADC, 93.5% of participants have remained free of another charge (Newcomer, 2011). In addition to being very successful, ADC is also extremely cost effective. Incarceration costs approximately $33,000 per person per year, probation costs approximately $17,000 per person per year, and participation in ADC costs approximately $2,500 per person per year (Denmark, 2011). In 2000, 21% of all sentenced state inmates and 57% of all federal sentenced inmates nationwide were incarcerated due to drug related offences (National Criminal Justice Reference Services, 2000). In addition, the largest source of jail population increase from 1996 to 2002 consisted of those with drug related charges.

Running head: Partners in Recovery

Challenges While drug court overall is cost-effective, research shows that offenders who are incarcerated and do not receive substance abuse treatment are more likely to return to their old behaviors after their jail term because they did not receive help to overcome addiction. Those who participate in a treatment program such as ADC are held accountable for their actions while receiving treatment for their addictions. A pretreatment service program in Chicago, Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities (TASC), that consisted of life skills workshops in 2003-2008 showed that clients were 42% more willing to enroll in a treatment program if they had enrolled in pretreatment programs. They also showed that clients were 6% less likely to use alcohol and 5% less likely to use drugs after completion of the pretreatment program workshops. Of the 404 offenders who have participated in ADC since 2001, 160 have graduated, 154 have been negatively discharged from the program due to a new offense, and 35 voluntarily withdrew from the program. Newcomb and Locke (2005) found that the most consequential areas affected by substance abuse and addiction are interpersonal skills needed in the professional field and parenting skills and behaviors. Adults mandated to drug court face many challenges. They must remain clean and sober, attend counseling sessions, acquire and maintain employment, and attend court hearings. In order for them to make these changes in their lives, they need resources. Making a nutritious meal, balancing a check book, filling out an application, or even spending time with their children are all things that may be new to them. Although ADC helps the participants stay out of jail while holding them accountable for their actions, ADC does not offer ways to change their behaviors. In order to reduce recidivism rates and help ADC participants become productive members of society they need to learn life skills.

Running head: Partners in Recovery

Partners in Recovery Partners in Recovery is an all-inclusive life skills workshop program that will offer resources to adult drug court participants to help them reduce the risk of recidivism and become productive members of society. Through the facilitation of weekly group sessions participants will gain skills in the areas of nutrition, resume and writing skills, employment and education attainment and other skills necessary for them to reintegrate into the community. Partners in Recovery will be offered as part of the drug court program to enhance the success of the program. Research Design: Partners in Recovery is both a quantitative and qualitative research study because the data collection involves pre and posttest surveys with open-ended and closed-ended questions. It is a mixed methods design in which life skills workshops are offered to a group of individuals in order to assess whether these workshops help reduce the risk of recidivism rates in adult drug court participants. This is a pilot program that is specifically designed for Adult Drug Court (ADC) and is exclusive to ADC participants in the 8th Judicial District Adult Drug Court in Colorado. Target Population: Partners in Recovery will target 18 and older adults involved in the probation system who are currently in the active stage of recovery, being phase III of ADC. We will serve a total of 6-12 persons weekly and these weekly sessions will be held at the county court house. Participants will be referred to Partners in Recovery by individual probation officers within the 8th Judicial District Adult Drug Court in Colorado. Partners in Recovery does not accommodate those with a violent crime history, those who have been convicted of sexual offence, or those

Running head: Partners in Recovery

who have been convicted for distribution of drugs. On average, our demographic will consist of lower socio-economic status. Purpose Partners in Recovery is a 6 week continuous program with an ultimate goal of helping participants to maintain recovery, avoid relapse, while gaining professional and personal skills and resources in order to become contributing members in society. Individuals who adopt these kinds of skills are better able to maintain sobriety and be successful in their chosen career path. A diverse array of curriculum makes this program unique from existing classes already offered in the 8th Judicial District Adult Drug Court.
Goals and Objectives Goal 1: To provide participants with necessary life skills needed to become successful members of society. Objective 1: Upon completion of the program, participants will have a 20% lower LSI-R score. Objective 2: After graduation a statistically significant percentage of participants will secure new employment Objective 3: Upon completion of the program, clients will demonstrate a statistically significant increase in knowledge of specifically addressed life skills as measured by pre and post workshop questionnaires. Goal 2: To decrease the likelihood of relapse. Objective 1: After graduation, the majority of participants will have replaced their negative behaviors with positive behaviors learned in the workshops offered as measured by pre and post workshop questionnaires. Objective 2: Our participants will demonstrate a 20% increase of graduation rate than in previous years.

Running head: Partners in Recovery

Methods At the beginning and end of each workshop, paper pre and posttest surveys will be administered to participants. The first session will begin in October of 2013. Workshops will be offered weekly and participants will be required to attend the weekly session or risk sanction by their probation officer. Each session will last no longer than two hours. Each session will have a different topic, and each will build on previous skills acquired. Participants need to complete all 6 weeks of Partners in Recovery in order to graduate from Adult Drug Court. Program Staff Partners in Recovery staff includes one staff member to be the program director to oversee all operations, and to organize workshop facilitators. Our staff will include one licensed probation officer. We will have guest speakers, some of which are graduate students, some who are volunteers from their department who are experts in their field who will prepare and present lectures based on their field of work. These participants will include graduate students from Colorado State University. A research assistant will be recruited to create surveys and collect and code the data. One research assistant will be hired to compile and analyze survey data, and collect post-graduation information. Recruitment The director will recruit workshop facilitators as well as the graduate students, and any other volunteer positions needed by an announcement letters sent to different colleges at Colorado State University. The recruitment of participants will be those ready to advance to phases II, III or IV in their Drug Court commitment based on Probation Officers discression. Probation Officers within the Drug Court organization will be informed of the available sessions of Partners in Recovery.

Running head: Partners in Recovery

Evaluation The effectiveness of Partners in Recovery will be assessed using paper pre and posttest surveys and questionnaires, attendance based reporting, and progress weekly reporting from probation officers. LSI scores measure the offenders risk of being a danger to society based on factors like previous criminal history, employment, housing status, and attitude. Our LSI measures will be compared with previous LSI scores from persons who have not completed Partners in Recovery as part of their treatment plan. These scores will be collected from the probation department. During every session, participants will complete a paper pre and posttest evaluation of their knowledge of the skill set being covered during that session. These surveys will be entered into SPSS data software for analysis. Conclusions The Partners in Recovery program offers a unique approach to assist the drug court in their efforts to help participants remain drug free and reintegrate into society. By providing weekly all inclusive life skills workshops, Partners in Recovery will be able to help reduce the risk of recidivism and help Adult Drug Court participants become productive members of society. This will be achieved by supporting those in the drug court recovery process and by supplying them with the resources they need to change their behaviors.

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Running head: Partners in Recovery

References Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological review, 84(2), 191215. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/847061 Knight, D.K. & Simpson, D.D. (1996) Influences of family and friends on client progress during drug abuse treatment, Journal of Substance Abuse, 8(4), 417-429, Texas Christian University. McIntosh, J., & McKeganey, N. (2001). Identity and recovery from dependent drug use: The addicts perspective. Drugs: Education Prevention and Policy 8(1). 47-51. Neale, J., Nettleton, S., & Pickering, L. (2011). Recovery from problem drug use: What can we learn from the sociologist Erving Goffman? 3-8. Newcomb, M. D. & Locke, T. (2005). Health, social, and psychological consequences of drug use and abuse. In Z. Sloboda(Ed.), Epidemiology of drug abuse(pp. 46-59). New York, NY: Springer Science + Business Media, Inc. National Criminal Justice Reference Service. (2011). Drug topics.http://www.ncjrs.gov National Institute of Drug Abuse (2010). Drugs, brains, and behaviors: The science of addiction.InNational Institutes of Health Pub. No. 10-5605. White, W. L. (2009). The mobilization of community resources to support long-term addiction recovery. Journal of substance abuse treatment, 36, 146-158.

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