Select Definitions

• Continuum of Care: A classification system that defines a broad scope of services. Within the context of providing care for individuals with substance use disorders, this can encompass interventions related to promotion (of mental and physical wellbeing), prevention, treatment, and recovery.
• Correctional Institutions / Carceral Settings
  • Jails: Typically operated by local law enforcement (e.g., sheriff, police chief). Setting for confinement before or after a case is adjudicated. Those sentenced to confinement in jails following a criminal conviction are usually sentenced to serve one year or less in confinement.
  • Prisons: Usually operated by a state Department of Corrections (DOC) or the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). Those sentenced to confinement in a prison typically serve a sentence of more than one year. Some prisons and jails are privately operated.
• Crisis Support: Includes crisis call centers (e.g., 988), mobile response teams, & crisis stabilization facilities that are equipped to address a substance-use related crisis.
  • Mobile Crisis Team (MCT) Services Model: Collaborative approach that incorporates behavioral health professionals into response teams with crisis intervention-trained law enforcement officers. Co-responding to calls involving individuals experiencing behavioral health crises may reduce hospitalizations, use of emergency department services, and avoid further criminal justice system involvement.
• Overdose Reversal Medication (e.g., naloxone): Medicine that is delivered via injection or nasal spray and rapidly reverses an opioid overdose (e.g., by restoring normal breathing).
• Peer Support Workers: Professionals with lived experience who help others in their recovery journey. Support provided through the peer support role can help reduce the likelihood of relapse.   
• Substance Use Disorder (SUD): A treatable, chronic disease involving symptoms (i.e. cognitive, behavioral, and physiological) related to drug use that cause significant distress.
  • Opioid Use Disorder (OUD): SUD specific to opioid use, which involves a problematic pattern of opioid use that causes significant impairment or distress.
• Substance Use Treatment & Related Models
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Often used as an umbrella term for interventions that include cognitive and behavioral techniques. Psychotherapy can be combined with other types of treatment (e.g., MAT).
  • Intensive Outpatient Programs (IOP): IOPs can be offered over several months and provide greater flexibility (e.g., ability to go to work or school) than inpatient treatment.
  • Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT): Treatment for SUD that can include medications and psychotherapy. It is a broader term that also encompasses MOUD.
    • Medication for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD): Medications approved by the FDA to treat opioid use disorder (OUD). These include methadone, buprenorphine (aka Suboxone) & naltrexone (aka Vivitrol). Each works differently, but overall they help stabilize brain chemistry and reduce or block the “high” from opioid use. They also help reduce cravings.
  • Residential Therapeutic Community (TC): Residential Therapeutic Community (or TC model) is a peer-driven approach that operates within correctional facilities. It has been associated with reductions in substance use and recidivism. The social support developed with this approach is particularly helpful for long-term recovery post-release.

Visual Aids

Bureau of Justice Statistics – Sequence of Events in Criminal Justice System (larger image on website)

Strategic Prevention Technical Assistance Center (SPTAC)  – The Institute of Medicine’s Continuum of Care

RTP Fact Sheets

• Improving Outcomes for Justice-Involved Individuals with Substance Use Disorders
• Preventing Overdose Deaths During High Risk Transition Periods

Select Resources / Examples

• Community Responder Models: Program Highlights & Assessment Tool – CSG Justice Center
• Implementing Evidence-Based Strategies to Reduce Overdose Risk During Reentry: A Primer for Reentry Professionals – National Reentry Resource Center
• Improving Responses to People who have Co-occurring Mental Illnesses & Substance Use Disorders in Jails – Council of State Governments
• Medicaid Basics for Correctional Leaders and Agencies – Council of State Governments Justice Center
• Medication-Assisted Treatment
  • Article, Medication for opioid use disorder service delivery in carceral facilities: update & summary report
  • Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) in the Criminal Justice System – SAMHSA Guidance
• Overdose Mortality & Selected Drug Type by State – National Center for Health Statistics
• Six States Selected to Participate in Medicaid & Corrections Policy Academy – Council of State Governments