Our Partners

The National Alliance for Recovery Residences is the most widely known organization supporting quality recovery residences in the United States. It was founded as a nonprofit organization by a group of organizations and individuals dedicated to promoting Best Practices in the operation of recovery residences. It is now recognized as such by the United States Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) as well as by the GAO Report on Recovery Housing.

NARR promotes well run, ethically operated centers and helps those with substance abuse and opioid abuse disorders gain access to high-quality recovery housing. It does this through advocacy, developing standards and training, and defining placement procedures, education, and research.

NARR facilitates working relationships with federal government agencies, national addiction and recovery organizations, and state recovery housing organizations. As a strategic partner, NARR applies widely referenced national standards for the operation of recovery residences. It currently supports 30 different state affiliate organizations providing recovery housing to over 25,000 persons living in over 2,500 certified recovery residences throughout the U.S.

In partnership with the Fletcher Group, NARR will contribute in the following ways:

• By supporting the National Advisory Board through close collaboration with NARR President Dave Sheridan.
• By defining, testing, and populating the facility quality standards applied by the National Directory of Recovery Housing Program. Those standards can be accessed by anyone at “Find Help Now Kentucky” website maintained by the Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center at the University of Kentucky.
• By helping define the core content for training recovery housing personnel, including staff roles and responsibilities.
• By creating a curriculum that addresses core content training areas.
• By helping define a recovery housing database and structure that documents resident outcomes.
• By providing the consultation and support needed to develop recovery residences.

NARR is also well known for producing a number of influential publications, including its “Primer on Recovery Residences.” In addition, NARR President Dave Sheridan has contributed to the National Council publication titled, “Building Recovery: State Policy Guide for Supporting Recovery Housing.”

James Bell Associates is well known for its work in evaluating client- and systems-level outcomes, conducting focus groups, and interviewing families, community service providers, agency leaders and staff—all of which can be seen at work in its publication titled, “Evaluation of the Community Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Program.” JBA is currently involved in another large study titled titled, “Prenatal Alcohol and Other Drugs Exposures in Child Welfare Populations.”

JBA has successfully engaged tribal entities to evaluate their health and human services programs and provides Technical Assistance for their treatment programs. Within the past ten years, they have worked with over 70 different tribes, tribal consortia, tribal organizations, and urban Indian organizations. As a result of this work, they have a deep understanding of the prevalence of SUDs in such populations.

JBA’s expertise in developing highly valuable evaluation programs will greatly aid the Fletcher Group, in particular the ongoing collaboration between our renowned Recovery Center Of Excellence (RCOE) and the University of Kentucky. JBA will provide the consultation and technical expertise to inform evaluation as well as technology and culturally sensitive Technical Assistance. The evaluation team will be responsible for the overall evaluation of all RCOE strategies. They will use both qualitative and quantitative methods to produce an annual evaluation report. They will collaborate with the United States Health Resources and Services (HRSA) administration to develop and apply RCOE performance measures and indicators. They will also interview stakeholders to inform and improve RCOE strategies and activities.

The Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center (KPIRC) is the result of a unique partnership between the University of Kentucky and the Kentucky Department for Public Health. Its purpose is to decrease the burden of injury in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and beyond.

In addition to being KPIRC’s Director, Dr. Terry Bunn serves as the Fletcher Group’s Co-Investigator and Academic Partner. Her extensive experience with SUD and OUD victims includes over 17 years as an injury epidemiologist where she studied fatal and non-fatal injuries, including drug overdoses. Dr. Bunn has over 60 peer-reviewed publications on a wide range of subjects, from the prevention of drug intoxication and other toxic exposures to motor vehicle and other traumatic injuries. Her current CDC-funded programs involve population- and case-based surveillance of fatal and nonfatal drug overdoses, development of effective community interventions to reduce drug overdoses, and evaluation of drug-related laws and regulations.

Teams under Dr. Bunn’s leadership have built and implemented FindHelpNowKY.org, a near real-time SUD/OUD treatment facility locator. The University of Kentucky is now in its eighth year of collecting data and analyzing and reporting outcomes for Recovery Kentucky’s 18 recovery centers.

Tyler Jennings and Amber Kizewski lead the registry team at FindHelpNowKY.org. They oversee a fully dedicated Recovery Housing Registry dedicated to expanding the state registry and collaborating with other non-profits and states with the goal of creating a national registry that can help those with SUDs and OUDs find high-quality recovery housing. With the help of Dr. Terry Bunn, they also oversee development of a RedCap™-based platform for inputting and collecting data collected by the Fletcher’s Group’s Recover Center of Excellence (RCOE). The repository plays a crucial role in evaluating recovery center performance and developing and disseminating reports and peer-reviewed publications.

The website is also aided by the Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center (KIPRC) which applies a variety of state-based data to evaluate social determinants and other factors impacting individual vulnerabilities, prevention, and relapse risk. To this end, Medicaid and unemployment benefit histories can serve as objective measures to assess prevention and intervention program efforts.

The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials currently represents 59 state and territorial health officials, making it the nation’s largest organization of its kind. ASTHO Executive Director Michael Fraser also serves on the Fletcher Group’s Recovery Center Of Excellence Board Of Advisors. He will liaison with state health officers across all target communities.

Under Fraser’s leadership, ASTHO developed the “Profile of State and Territorial Public Health”—the nation’s only comprehensive source of information regarding state and territorial public health agency activities, structure, and resources. The profile defines the scope of public health services, identifies variations in practice, and contributes to the development of Best Practices in public healthcare.

ASTHO’s Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) project helps build healthier communities by working to mitigate the opioid crisis. This partnership will engage state public health officials to help rural communities leverage state public health resources. Other activities will include:

• Collaborating to coordinate interaction between state and territorial health officers and agencies with the Fletcher Group’s Recovery Center of Excellence (RCOE).
• Encouraging public health agencies and personnel to provide a full continuum of care at recovery housing facilities.
• Creating meaningful data regarding public health, SUD prevention, early intervention and recovery housing outcomes.
• Disseminating to members nationwide information about prevention initiatives and rural recovery housing efforts.
• Supporting prevention and intervention initiatives in targeted counties.

Dr. Fraser has also received numerous awards, including the HHS Regions IV and VI Award for his publication titled, “Generating Action Strategies to Address the Opioid Epidemic.”

NACCHO is dedicated to supporting and advocating for local health departments in the hope of optimizing their strategic alliances and partnerships. The organization has been a leader in recognizing that prescription and illicit opioid misuse poses a national public health emergency. Oscar Alleyne, NACCHO’s Chief of Programs and Services, serves as the Fletcher Group’s Recovery Center Of Excellent Senior Advisor for Local Public Health Officials and will help implement strategies for both the Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center (KIPRC) and the Fletcher Group’s Recovery Center of Excellence (RCOE). Those strategies will:

• Address surveillance and monitoring
• Increase prevention and education
• Promote appropriate opioid prescribing practices
• Improve and expand treatment and recovery

The Fletcher Group’s RCOE goals happen to fit perfectly with two ongoing NACCHO programs: the “Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships” (MAPP) which seeks to improve the performance of local public health systems and the “Local Opioid Overdose Prevention and Response” (LOOPR) Project which focuses on prevention, risk reduction, and care. LOOPR, in particular, assists in developing local “Community Action Plans” (CAP) to reduce fatal and non-fatal opioid overdoses by improving community responsiveness.

NACHHO will collaborate with the Fletcher Group to:

• Coordinate interaction with county health departments and officials
• Facilitate collaboration with public health entities in order to provide a full continuum of care at recovery housing facilities
• Develop stategies with local health departments to improve surveillance, increase prevention and education, promote appropriate opioid-prescribing practices, and both improve and expand treatment and recovery services
• Work with the MAPP program and recovery housing facilities to disseminate information through local marketing plans
• Collaborate with LOOPR on prevention, risk reduction, and linkage to care.

FAHE is a non-profit Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) with over 30 years of experience administering and managing a wide array of projects ranging from housing, energy, and recovery to education, social enterprise, and care of the elderly. FAHE is also an expert in affordable and transitional housing with four active transitional housing projects focused on addiction recovery.

FAHE provides:

• Training and consultation for organizations seeking to build
  recovery housing.
• Financial planning and development strategies to meet the needs of
  recovery housing sponsors.
• Financial status analysis and reporting.
• Technical assistance and consultation regarding low-income housing
  tax credits (LIHTC), including funding and application processes.
• Guidance regarding the implications of LIHTC-qualified allocation
  plans and capital financing for recovery housing.
• Reviews of state-run
  Section 8 housing voucher programs and the availability of project-based
  vouchers.

FAHE was recently awarded $3.7 million in SAMSHA funding through the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services. The funds will be used to administer the “Access to Recovery” which will provide individuals in recovery with additional services.

FAHE will partner with the Fletcher Group to develop ongoing financing for recovery housing construction and operation. FAHE has already provided financial and program assistance for several HUD-based projects, including nearly $8 million in capital construction funds for each Recovery Kentucky facility.

The Pike County Recovery Council is comprised of the Community Action Committee of Pike County, the Adena Pike Medical Center, and Valley View Health Centers. The latter is a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) chain in southeast Ohio providing comprehensive medical services that address physical and behavioral health, including Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) and counseling. Through multiple locations they serve a region of Ohio particularly hard hit by the opioid crisis that is perhaps best described in the book “Dreamland” by Sam Quinone. That best-selling book highlights the community of Portsmouth, Ohio, which some consider the national epicenter of the opioid epidemic.

Leading the region’s response to the crisis are Dr. Sean Stiltner and Keith Pitts, CEO of the Pike County Community Action Committee. Both men have developed services that address the social determinants of SUDs and OUDs. They remain dedicated to:

• Collaborating with rural communities to expand treatment services, MAT, and social recovery.
• Establishing recovery housing “Best Practices.”
• Identifying barriers and how to overcome them.
• Supporting work with local health departments to provide prevention and early intervention programs through new and existing recovery housing facilities.

West Virginia and Marshall University have made substantial efforts to address the state’s opioid epidemic, including the promotion of effective recovery housing. Robert Hansen, the State Director of the Office of Drug Control Policy, has led the effort, together with several colleagues at Marshall, to offer those in recovery a full continuum of care, from Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) to recovery housing and workforce development. Another emphasis has been to work with local departments of corrections to treat those involved in the criminal justice system.

The state of West Virginia and Marshall University are currently working with the Fletcher Group’s Recovery Center Of Excellence (RCOE) to:

• Expand treatment services, Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT), and recovery in rural West Virginia.
• Establish “Best Practices” for recovery housing in rural counties.
• Help communities identify barriers and solutions so that effective recovery housing facilities can be capitalized and funded.
• Collaborate with local public health departments and organizations to expand prevention and early intervention programs to complement recovery housing.
• Help coordinate efforts between Marshall University and the UK’s Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center (KIPRC) to develop Best Practices and collect outcome data.
• Collaborate with the West Virginia Commissioner of Corrections to provide an alternative to incarceration for those with drug offenses.