Peer Support

The Problem

Non-profit organizations throughout Maryland that were founded and are currently operated by individuals with lived experience, providing solutions to the ‘opioid epidemic’, have little or no access to the millions in state and federal funding being dedicated to solving the opioid crisis.  Peer Recovery Specialists –individuals who have survived and recovered from a substance use disorder themselves, or parents (caregivers) who have supported an adolescent or young adult child struggling to recover from their disorder, provide ‘peer recovery services’ to those desperate for solutions –those caught in the grips of their own disorder, or their parent caregivers who are assisting them with accessing help.

The services they provide include: 1) keeping abreast of scientifically-valid and evidence-based information and educating others who are impacted by addiction about policy and programmatic trends; 2) assisting individuals seeking treatment and recovery services in accessing these services;    3) facilitating family peer support and bereavement groups; 4) providing one-to-one peer coaching;    5) serving as diversion advocates in the courtroom –assisting judges and legal counsel in creating treatment plans as an alternative to incarceration; 6) providing impacted individuals and their family members with Naloxone; 7) linking individuals without funding for treatment and recovery services to private scholarships and public grant funding; and 8) providing evidence-based training and mentoring to other peer specialists. These organizations are often providing higher deliverables at a lower cost than other service providers or government programs.

Some of these incorporated Maryland business owners have been operating for more than a decade on the efforts of volunteers often working the equivalent of a full-time job, and are a valuable and very visible resource within their community. Unfortunately, by the time that police departments, ‘big-business’ treatment providers, and local health departments grab all available funding and resources, there is very little if anything that trickles down to grassroots organizations that are typically implementing highly innovative, successful, and fiscally efficient solutions.

The Solution

Businesses that have been established to provide Peer Recovery Services, and that are demonstrating measurable outcomes, often at a lower cost than currently funded competitors, must be assisted in becoming self-sustaining.  Policy makers must become better acquainted with these grassroots organizations, and they must be given real opportunities for sustainability and growth.  They provide vital and often life-saving services to individuals with a substance use disorder and their families, and their service must be recognized and supported.

Unfortunately, non-profit monopolies are created when single organizations are pre-selected to receive grants to expand peer services.  Prioritizing funding only for those organizations with long-standing contracts with the state, to the total exclusion of innovative new start-ups, fails to honor basic tenets upon which our nation is founded –capitalism, innovation, and equal opportunity.

Maryland business owners who have legitimate incorporated businesses that currently provide peer support and recovery services must be allowed to bill for these same services equally with other larger players that have deeply entrenched relationships with The Department of Health, and must have equitable access to funding opportunities.