TASC, Inc. (Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities)
|
|
Summer 2018
|
|
|
Webinar Delivers Opioid Screening and Assessment Solutions for Law Enforcement, Justice Practitioners
More than 1,300 people across the country registered for a July 10 webinar offering solutions for law enforcement and justice system partners on the front lines of responding to the national opioid epidemic. Hosted by CSG's National Reentry Resource Center, the webinar, entitled "Opioid Addiction Screening and Assessment for People in the Criminal Justice System," focuses on best practices for screening and assessing people who have opioid addictions and are in, or at risk of entering, the criminal justice system... Speakers included Roger Peters, PhD, clinical psychologist and professor in the Department of Mental Health Law and Policy at the University of South Florida, as well as Jac Charlier and Phillip Barbour of the Center for Health and Justice (CHJ) at TASC. |
|
National Collaborative Co-founded by TASC Launches Website Supporting Pre-Arrest Diversion
The Police, Treatment, and Community Collaborative (PTACC), of which the Center for Health and Justice at TASC is a founding member, has launched a website to support colleagues across the country facing multiple public health and public safety challenges in their communities. PTACC was formed in April 2017 to advocate for the expanded use of pre-arrest diversion by law enforcement, and advance research efforts for successful program implementation nationwide.
|
2018 Recovery Month PSAs, Toolkit Available
The 2018
National Recovery Month toolkit is now available online, offering resources to help increase awareness and understanding of recovery from substance use and mental health disorders and celebrate people living in recovery. Observed each September and sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), National Recovery Month--of which TASC is a national Planning Partner--highlights achievements of individuals who have reclaimed their lives in long-term recovery, and also recognizes the treatment and recovery service providers who offer pathways to recovery.
|
|
Supportive Release Center Marks One-Year Anniversary; Model Replicated in Albuquerque
In Albuquerque, New Mexico, a "one-stop" program recently opened to assist people newly released from jail in accessing a place to stay, food, medicine, substance use treatment, and other social supports. The Albuquerque program--known as the Bernalillo County (NM) Resource Re-Entry Center--came about after local officials teamed up with the National Association of Counties and TASC. One year ago in Chicago, TASC and partners launched the Supportive Release Center (SRC), which serves as a guiding resource for voluntary participants who face vulnerabilities following their release from jail.
|
|
TASC Hosts Caribbean Delegation Visit of Model Justice Interventions
TASC has been recognized as a model for advancing collaborative strategies to divert people with substance use disorders away from the justice system and into treatment and recovery in the community. In collaboration with criminal justice partners in Cook County, TASC hosted a delegation of high-level justice and health officials from Guyana, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, and Jamaica, who visited Chicago June 11-12 to explore innovative practices in implementing alternatives to incarceration.
|
|
Illinois Mental Health Parity Bill Passes House, Moves to Senate
Illinois Senate Bill 1707, described by the Kennedy Forum Illinois as "the strongest mental health parity law in the nation," passed the House on May 30 with a 106-9 vote. Sponsored by House Deputy Majority Leader Lou Lang, the bill strengthens parity law, increasing compliance and access to treatment, so that health insurance plans cover mental illness and addictions on par with other medical conditions. TASC is part of a broad coalition of support for the legislation, which now moves to the Senate for concurrence. [The bill since has passed in the General Assembly and has been sent to the Governor for signature.]
|
|
TASC in the News
Indiana Hosts Opioid Event To Help Public Safety, Public Health Officials Collaborate
(WFYI Indianapolis, August 14, 2018)
Public health and public safety leaders gathered in Carmel to find ways to collaborate to address the opioid epidemic in Hoosier communities... More than 300 people attended, including law enforcement, healthcare providers and educators... Chief counsel for Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities Michele Worobiec gave the keynote speech about collaboration and early intervention.
West Orange (NJ) Takes Innovative Approach to Battling Opioid Addiction
As communities across the country continue to battle the opioid crisis, West Orange (NJ) is among those taking a proactive, innovative approach to solving it: collaboration. The approach is known as Police, Treatment and Community Collaborative (PTACC), where law enforcement and behavioral health entities join forces with the community to help [people] overcome their illness instead of immediately putting them behind bars. "It's a unique time," said Jac Charlier, the National Director for Justice Initiatives at the Center for Health and Justice at TASC (Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities). "It's a national movement."
New task force aims to halve female prison population
A 50 percent reduction in the number of women incarcerated in Illinois prisons is the goal of a new task force organized by the Women's Justice Institute... "Women are the fastest growing prison and jail population in the U.S. and this effort is about uniting women to redefine narratives and confront these trends," said Deanne Benos, co-founder of the Women's Justice Institute... Leading the task force will be Pam Rodriguez, CEO of Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities, and Colette Payne, who was incarcerated five times and now works as a community organizer for Cabrini Green Legal Aid.
Jamaica among Caribbean judicial and health officials on visit to US
Judicial and health officials from four Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries are on a weeklong visit to the United States aimed at exploring problem-solving courts and alternatives to incarceration for drug-related offences. The initiative is a result of a commitment made by the executive secretariat of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (ES/CICAD) and Secretariat for Multidimensional Security of the Organization of American States (OAS)... ES/CICAD has also partnered with the Chicago based Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities (TASC) and the New York City based Centre for Court Innovation (CCI) in organising the visit. Both organisations are recognised in the field for their commitment to design, implementation and promotion of alternatives to incarceration.
U.S. County Jails Step Up Mental Health Screening To Keep Inmates From Coming Back
Pam Rodriguez is the CEO of TASC-Illinois, an organization that helps [formerly incarcerated people] re-enter society. She agrees with [Champaign County Health Care Consumers Executive Director Claudia] Lennhoff that jail can be a turning point for people with untreated mental illnesses. But she said it's a shame those people didn't find help sooner. Ideally, Rodriguez said people with mental illness who get arrested would be diverted to treatment instead of jail where their condition can worsen.
Instead of more policing, a model to provide more services
Everyone is talking about diversion from the criminal justice system... The potential is much greater if the concept of diversion is expanded to "deflection," said Jac Charlier, national director of justice initiatives at Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities, based in Chicago. The goal is to offer help to people before they are in crisis, Charlier said. The key is a "warm hand-off," he said, an immediate connection with a treatment provider who may meet an officer and an individual who wants help on the scene or at an emergency room. A referral to an appointment two or three weeks later "is probably not going to help." He calls deflection "a game changer" both for improving communities and for improving police-community relations.
IL House Panel OKs Evans Bill to Give Police, Communities "Road Map" to Fight Opioid Crisis
(Chicago Tribune | Daily Southtown, May 16, 2018)
The Illinois House Human Services Committee voted 12-0 on May 16 to advance legislation, Senate Bill 3023, that encourages local law enforcement to "deflect" from criminal arrest individuals who have overdosed or who have substance use problems, directing them instead into substance use disorder treatment. "Traditionally, local police have had two choices when faced with someone who they believe may have a substance use disorder-to arrest or to not arrest," said Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities (TASC) President Pamela Rodriguez. "With the opioid crisis raging across the state, deflection provides a third option, to connect people with community-based substance use treatment services that address their underlying substance use problems. This bill lays out a roadmap to municipalities, offering guidance, program features, and a range of options." [The bill since has passed in the General Assembly and has been sent to the Governor for signature.]
|
|
TASC Weighs in on Federal Initiative to Address Drug Crisis
House Passes Historic H.R. 6 to Help Patients and Families; Over 155 Organizations Sign Letter in Support of the House's Work to Address the Drug Crisis
On June 22, the U.S. House of Representatives passed historic legislation to continue building the comprehensive framework needed to address our nation's drug crisis. The Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Act (H.R. 6), which passed the House in an overwhelming vote of 396-14, contains more than 50 different proposals that will help individuals, families, and communities impacted by substance use disorder. In support of the House's efforts to address the nation's drug crisis, over 155 organizations, including TASC, signed a letter to show appreciation for the bipartisan work to help solve this crisis.
|
|
