HONOLULU – The Hawaii State Department of Health’s Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division has been awarded over $11.4 million dollars over four years by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (SAMHSA/CSAT). The funding will support the Access to Recovery Project (ATR Ohana), which provides vouchers to people with drug and alcohol problems to pay for needed treatment and recovery support services.
The ATR Ohana is designed to provide clients with their choice of substance abuse clinical treatment and recovery support service providers; expand access to a comprehensive array of services including faith-based and culturally-based program options; and increase the capacity of the recovery-oriented system of care. The project provides funding for “wrap-around” recovery services such as housing, child care, self-help and support groups, cultural and spiritual support, and treatment for co-occurring mental disorders.
Plans for the new grant period will include an expansion of the O‘ahu-based ATR Ohana program to one neighbor island. The funds will also be used to increase program access to substance-abusing adolescents and extended family members of treatment clients, improving recovery efforts for entire families. In the past, the program was only available to eligible substance abusing adults in need of treatment, those participating in treatment for substance abuse, and those discharged from treatment within the last two years.
In 2007, Hawaii was awarded $8.25 million over three years through the ATR Grant Program, and this year the state is one of 30 jurisdictions awarded funding for 2010 to 2014.
Further information about ATR Ohana services and eligibility, as well as application forms to become an ATR Ohana treatment and recovery support service provider, are available on-line at the Hawai‘i State Department of Health’s website at https://hawaii.gov/health/substance-abuse/ATR/about.html or by calling Dr. JoHanna Mechergui, ATR Service Developer, at 808-692-7512.
Submitted by the DOH