Turning Point recovery coaches expanding inside Vermont correctional facilities with state grant support

TURNING POINT CENTERS TESTIFY TO COMMITTEE — Turning Point recovery centers described to the Corrections & Institutions Committee on Jan. 29 how peer recovery coaches are working inside Vermont correctional facilities and said recent state funding is enabling the program to expand into more prisons and into probation and parole settings.

Tracy, a representative of the Turning Point Center of Rutland, told the committee that Turning Point Center of Rutland and Springfield “provide a dynamic set of peer led services and support” and that recovery coaches help people “form a recovery plan that addresses immediate, short term, and long term recovery needs once they are released.” Michael Johnson, chief executive officer of Turning Point Recovery Center, and John Hoyt, program lead for recovery coaches and justice at Springfield Turning Point, described where coaches are now working and the program’s referral and follow-up practices.

Why it matters: committee members and Department of Corrections (DOC) staff said recovery coaching fills gaps between treatment and community reentry and can reach people at arrest, in holding and during…