Program will equip police departments with recovery coaches

The public service organization AmeriCorps will furnish 20 part-time recovery coaches to Massachusetts police departments, with the goal of bolstering the agencies' efforts to take a more treatment-oriented approach to addressing the drug problem in their communities.

A three-year grant from the Massachusetts Service Alliance to the Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative (P.A.A.R.I.) will allow for the placement of the 20 recovery coaches and five full-time program coordinators. The AmeriCorps members, who will begin this work in October, will help build police capacity to expand services addressing the opioid epidemic and will work with community organizations that help individuals access treatment and recovery services.

P.A.A.R.I. will receive $207,000 in grant money each year for three years to carry out the project. P.A.A.R.I. also announced that it is developing a grant proposal for the Corporation for National amd Community Service that would allow for the placement of AmeriCorps members in law enforcement agencies elsewhere in the country.