Our Partners

OUR PARTNERS MONTAGE WITH ELEVANCE HEALTH FOUNDATION

It’s A Team Effort!

The Fletcher Group works closely with a wide range of professional organizations known for their quality of care and devotion to public service. Their expertise in public health, prevention, intervention, and recovery housing plays a crucial role in our ability to deliver a recovery model unprecedented in both effectiveness and financial sustainability. (For a detailed understanding of our unique Team Approach” to collaboration, click “It’s All About Partnering.”)

Elevance Health Foundation

Elevance Health Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Elevance Health, Inc. The Foundation works to advance health equity by focusing on improving the health of the socially vulnerable through partnerships and programs in our communities with an emphasis on maternal child health; substance use disorder; and food as medicine. Through its key areas of focus, the Foundation also strategically aligns with Elevance Health’s focus on community health and becoming a lifetime, trusted health partner that is fueled by its purpose to improve the health of humanity. To learn more about Elevance Health Foundation, please visit www.elevancehealth.foundation or follow us @ElevanceFND on Twitter and Elevance Health Foundation on Facebook. To learn about the Fletcher Group’s new partnership with SMART Recovery funded by the Elevance Health Foundation, visit our SMART Recovery web page.

SMART Recovery

SMART Recovery is an international non-profit that provides assistance to individuals seeking abstinence from addiction. (SMART stands for Self-Management and Recovery Training.)

An Exciting New Partnership!

Having already supported over 3,500 face-to-face mutual-support groups and over 250 monthly online meetings, SMART Recovery recently partnered with The Fletcher Group Rural Center of Excellence with the goal of bringing Smart Recovery’s programs, tools, and Successful Life Skills Handbook into over 100 rural recovery homes.

SMART Recovery Logo

Sign Up For Assistance Today. It’s Free!

The Fletcher Group RCOE welcomes your application for assistance, including a $1,200 stipend for participating in the program,

Step 1

Confirm that your practice is defined by HRSA as rural by clicking the Rural Health Grants Eligibility Analyzer.

Step 2

If you qualified as rural at the above link, submit your application by clicking “Online Registration Form” and filling out a brief form.

And to visit the SMART Recovery website, simply click on their logo to the left.

Contingency Management

Contingency Management, “CM” for short, is a behavioral intervention that uses motivational incentives and tangible rewards to help people abstain from drugs or alcohol. Research has shown that CM can not only encourage abstinence and healthy behaviors, but can also boost self-confidence and self-efficacy—important qualities that help people in recovery stay on track. Also worth noting: CM can be especially helpful for people who don’t want or can’t take medications, haven’t been successful with other services, or don’t have access to other treatments. (The latter may be particularly beneficial in rural areas.)

A New Partnership for a New Initiative

Because CM can be such a powerful tool for operators of Recovery Residences, the Fletcher Group Rural Center Of Excellence has launched two important collaborations: one with David Ledgerwood, PhD, of Wayne State University and one with Michael McDonell, PhD, and other faculty members at Washington State University. Both efforts seek to apply Contingency Management in rural recovery residences.

Wayne State researchers will be conducting a pilot project involving 10 to 12 recovery houses in rural communities. Included will be the provision of training and support for recovery residences as well as all necessary materials, technology, and incentives.

Washington State researchers will conduct surveys and interviews with Recovery Residence operators and staff to assess their knowledge of CM and promote its adoption. The information collected will then be used to develop Best Practice applications of CM in rural RH.

REWARD IMAGE FOR PARTNERS PAGE

Sign Up Today. It’s Free!

The Fletcher Group RCOE invites your participation at absolutely no cost to you. And in some circumstances, you can actually receive compensation to participate.

Step 1

Confirm that your practice is defined by HRSA as rural by clicking the Rural Health Grants Eligibility Analyzer.

Step 2

If you qualified as rural at the above link, submit your application by clicking “Contingency Management” and filling out a brief form.

NARR

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.”

To visit their website, click the button below.

NARR

James Bell Associates

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.

To visit their website, click the button below.

JBA

Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center

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.

To visit their website, click the button below.

KIPRC

Find Help Now Kentucky

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.

To visit their website, click the button below.

Find Help Now

Association of State and Territorial Health Officials

ASTHO LOGO

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.”

To visit their website, click the button below.

ASTHO

National Association of County and City Health Officials

NACCHO SQUARE WHITE

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, harm 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, harm reduction, and linkage to care.

To visit their website, click the button below.

NACCHO

Federation of Appalachian Housing Enterprises

FAHE SQUARE

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.

To visit their website, click the button below.

fahe

The Pike County Recovery Council

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.

To visit their website, click the button below.

The Recovery Council

West Virginia Health HR Department and Marshall University

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.

To visit their website, click the button below.

West Virginia HHR Marshall University