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 incarceration. Isaac Dano, director of the DOC, said recent grant and settlement funds will be used to extend recovery coaching into probation and parole offices as pretrial and reentry programs expand.

State funding and scale — Tracy told the committee that the General Assembly appropriated a total of $1,560,000 for the Turning Point recovery coach program between a fiscal-year budget adjustment and the FY25 budget. DOC staff said an earlier $500,000 grant from a budget adjustment act and a separate $1,000,000 allocation from opioid settlement funds have also supported expansion. “That funding…is going to be kind of the bedrock funding for providing coaching within probation and parole,” Isaac Dano said.

Turning Point and DOC witnesses listed facilities and local centers now participating: Marble Valley (Marble Valley Regional Correctional Facility), Springfield, Newport, Chittenden, Saint Johnsbury and the Caledonia County work camp; Kingdom Recovery Center and Journey to Recovery Community Center were named as local partners. DOC and Turning Point representatives said plans are underway for work in northwest and northeastern regional correctional centers and for regular weekly groups in some sites.

Metrics and model — The witnesses gave several program metrics: Chittenden’s corrections recovery coach served 25 individuals since June 2024, provided 95 certified recovery coaching sessions, facilitated 29 recovery meetings with 91 attendees and offered follow-up supports to six participants being released. John Hoyt said his jail work has reached “at least 200 people” in his jail group and estimated roughly 50% of those contacted follow up with a recovery coach after release; he characterized that as an estimate rather than a precise metric. Mike Johnson said the work fits a sequential intercept model and noted, “we have an embedded coach in the police department 40 hours a week,” a placement the presenters said helps reach people at arrest and during early supervision.

Services, referrals and barriers — Presenters described one-to-one coaching, group work using the Houses of Healing curriculum and coordination with probation and parole, restorative justice and adult treatment courts. They said recovery coaches often are people with lived experience who help clients find housing, IDs, food, employment referrals and connections to peer support after release. Barriers cited included limited staff capacity, occasional skepticism early on from correctional staff that diminished with consistent engagement, and instances where incarcerated people signed up but did not attend groups; presenters said programs remove non-attending names from active lists after repeated no-shows.

Training and next steps — Tracy said Turning Point staff present regularly at the Vermont Correctional Academy to explain recovery coaching to DOC staff and that a FY26 budget request and testimonial packet were submitted to the committee assistant. DOC officials said settlement funds will flow to probation and parole sites soon and that the governor’s proposals to expand pretrial supervision would intersect with the recovery coach work; DOC also noted most of the system remains funded with general fund dollars and that broader federal grant freezes may affect other programs.

The committee did not take formal votes on the testimony. Presenters left contact materials and a packet of slides and budget materials with the committee assistant for follow-up.