D&A Coalition - Recovery Subcommittee Completes White Paper
February 25, 2010

In February 2008 the two principal state agencies that fund services for substance use-related problems in Pennsylvania – the Department of Health, Bureau of Drug and Alcohol Programs (BDAP) and the Department of Public Welfare, Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) – acknowledging a long-standing need between the two entities to better collaborate and plan and resolved to work together to improve communication and the coordination and efficacy of substance use care. After a series of internal discussions facilitated by the Institute for Research, Education and Training in Addictions (IRETA), those involved decided that the best way to move forward was the formation of a statewide coalition. The coalition eventually included numerous state departments and bureaus as well as addiction practitioners, recovery community members, consumers, parents, and others coalition members. They established five topic-based committees on which all coalition work focused: Financing/Funding, Workforce Development, Accessibility & Standardization, and Recovery-Based Issues and Criminal Justice Issues.

The coalition meets approximately every other month. One product of its work is the White Paper: Recovery-Oriented System of Care: A Recovery Community Perspective. The Recovery Oriented Systems of Care Subcommittee was charged with the development of this paper. The paper informs the larger coalition and future efforts in Pennsylvania on expansion of services using a Recovery Oriented System of Care model. This paper then fits into a larger process to inform and influence service development through the Departments of Health, Public Welfare, and beyond.

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