The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) renewed its grant to Advocates for Human Potential, Inc. (AHP) for $1 million in funding to provide training and technical assistance for all state prisons and local jails that received federal grants through the Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Program (RSAT) administered by the DOJ Bureau of Justice Assistance. The award runs through September 30, 2022. AHP has provided this training for the past 11 years.

As part of its work for this grant, AHP developed the first national standards for prison and jail addiction treatment programs. The standards promote adherence to contemporary standards of care, in particular provision of medication assisted treatment (MAT) for offenders treated for opioid and alcohol use disorders. Currently, only 14% of jails offer MAT; with the assistance of AHP, the majority of jail RSAT programs now offer MAT.

AHP has also instituted an innovative series of host-site training programs that allow correctional teams to visit model prison and jail programs across the county. Through these training programs, AHP has arranged visits to the Massachusetts Department of Correction’s MAT program and the Middlesex Jail and House of Correction’s Medication Assisted Treatment and Directed Opioid Recovery (MATADOR), its Youth Offender Unit, and its Housing Unit for Military Veterans. To supplement these trainings, AHP has partnered with Factory Sealed, LLC, to produce a series of virtual prison and jail site visit and training videos featuring programs in the Barnstable and Essex County Correctional Facilities and in Massachusetts Department of Correction prisons.

AHP is a multi-state consulting and research company specializing in transforming health and human services systems of care and business operations to help organizations and vulnerable consumers reach their full potential. The company works nationwide and has offices in Sudbury, Massachusetts; Chicago, Illinois; and Pasadena, California.

This was reported by Advocates for Human Potential, Inc. on December 8, 2021.

Contact information: Sarah Farmer, M.A., Public Relations & Marketing, Advocates for Human Potential, Inc., Massachusetts Office: 490-B Boston Post Road, Sudbury, MA 01776; 508-308-0264; Email: sfarmer@ahpnet.com; Website: https://www.ahpnet.com/