The County is applying for another 3-year grant to continue offering a program that helps people addicted to opioids and methamphetamine to kick the habit.
In a report from the Behavior Health Department’s Interim Administrator, Frank Warren, the Board of Supervisors was asked to retroactively give permission to apply for the next round of funding through the Federal, “Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program” or COSSUP.
The County is seeking another $1.3 million to cover the costs of continuing a program it started in October 2023 but is set to expire at the end of September.
This new grant would cover from June 1, 2026 to June 1, 2029. If awarded, Warren said the grant would “support the BHD’s capacity to provide peer recovery support services to an estimated 200 individuals suffering from opiate use and stimulant use disorders. The target population is adults who have both opiate use disorder and stimulant use disorder, primarily methamphetamine, who are at high-risk for overdose.”
The new grant would allow the County to continue providing “Recovery Residence stays [drug and alcohol-free living] to all COSSUP participants in San Luis Obispo County, one of the least affordable housing markets in the nation, who need this level of care.”
The report said that 40 individuals would get the Recovery Residence services “for an average stay of ninety days.”
The recovery residences are all compliant with requirements under something called “Medication Assisted Treatment” and the grant will also continue paying for two full time equivalent County employees (case managers) to oversee the clients in the program.
“The case managers,” Warren said, “will continue their current duties such as coordinating transportation, scheduling follow-up appointments, including Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) services, and providing a ‘warm handoff’ from custody to outpatient treatment and Recovery Residence services.”
The money will also partially fund (one-fourth time) a Behavioral Health Supervisor. The County workers are essential to the treatment program.
“These positions are essential to providing intensive case management services to COSSUP participants while in custody, during treatment, and upon release into the community,” Warren’s report said. “Due to the ongoing opioid epidemic and increasing demand for services in the County Jail and local emergency departments, maintaining the existing staffing model is necessary to support continuity of care and improve treatment engagement.”
According to Warren’s report, the salaries and benefits for the two-and-one-quarter time employees will cost $275,000 in year one; $352,000 in year two; and $370,000 in the third year of the grant.
Other expenses include: services and supplies ($7,600 each year); other professional services ($42,800 each year); and indirect costs ($41,300, $52,900, and $55,554).
Because the money originates with Department of Justice, the BHD had to coordinate its efforts with the County Sheriff’s Office and the Probation Department. But BHD is running the show.
“If awarded, this grant will be overseen by the Community Corrections Partnership,” Warren said, “as this is a Department of Justice grant with the lead agency being the Health Agency BHD.”
Warren’s report predicts lofty results. “As a result, there is expected to be a measured improvement in employment, decreased drug and alcohol use [including fatal overdoses], and decreased legal involvement as measured by pre-test and post-test measured by objective drug testing results, self-reported employment status, and by review of arrest information prior to program participation and at discharge.”
He added, “Participants in the COSSUP will have achieved and sustained a lifestyle of sobriety and recovery, including learning skills to better manage their lives.
“There will be decreased criminal recidivism, decreased impact on criminal justice and behavioral health care systems, and re-stabilized lives which will contribute to the County vision of a safe and healthy community.”
