This publication focusing on reentry is fifth in a series on rural community solutions to address substance abuse disorder as part of the Responses to the Opioid Epidemic (RROE) project’s implementation of the Sequential Intercept Model (SIM).
This brief examines how three Rural Responses to the Opioid Epidemic (RROE) project sites implement services to assist those with mental health disorders and substance use disorders (SUDs) being released from the jail system back into the community to have plans in place to meet their needs to help reduce recidivism and set them on the path toward recovery. This series explores how RROE sites’ efforts aligned at each point of the Sequential Intercept Model (SIM) and the public safety/public health partnerships that strengthened these efforts. Intercept 4 of the SIM focuses on reentry by providing planning and support to individuals with mental health disorders and SUDs who are returning to the community after incarceration. Activities in this intercept are meant to ensure that people have plans in place to address their needs upon release from jail or prison. The RROE project, co-funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the State Justice Institute, supported 21 rural sites across the country to develop or enhance efforts to strengthen epidemiologic surveillance and public health data infrastructure; implement effective community-level opioid overdose prevention activities; and establish or enhance public safety, public health, and behavioral health collaborations. The SIM delineates how individuals with mental health disorders and SUDs move through the criminal justice system. The purpose of the SIM is to help communities identify gaps in services at each of the six intercepts. The goal is to encourage collaboration among community leaders and stakeholders to work together to divert people with behavioral health issues away from the justice system and into a network of treatment alternatives.