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VAMHAR executive director urges lawmakers to fund community recovery, warns carceral approach will cost more
Summary
The newly appointed executive director of the Vermont Association for Mental Health and Addiction Recovery described the group's long history supporting recovery infrastructure, outlined grants and workforce training, and urged lawmakers to prioritize community and prevention over incarceration-focused responses.
Daniel (last name not specified), who said he became executive director of the Vermont Association for Mental Health and Addiction Recovery (VAMHAR) two months earlier, told the House Healthcare Committee that recovery and mental-health services are tightly connected and that community-based investments prevent costly outcomes.
"We are not mental health and we are not addiction recovery. We're a mental health and addiction recovery," he said, arguing the issues are inseparable and require integrated responses rather than isolated funding streams.
Daniel reviewed VAMHAR's history and recent work: the organization was founded in 1939, served as an incubator for recovery programs and has led workforce and training efforts. He cited a federal HRSA award totaling $3,080,000 over four years and said VAMHAR currently has about $1,000,000 from HRSA for the fiscal year. He said VAMHAR has trained more than 500 recovery coaches and more than 100 ICNRC‑certified recovery coaches and supports a network of recovery centers and programs.
He warned lawmakers against policy choices that increase incarceration without therapeutic support, saying such approaches are more costly and less effective. "If you see a PR machine that is talking about mass incarceration of people with mental health and addiction issues, I believe $1,000,000,000 is a great savings compared to what you're about to face," he said, urging lawmakers to consider prevention and community connections as long‑term cost savers.
Daniel described VAMHAR's experience running recovery villages and community centers that provided housing, employment and services and cited his personal and professional experience working on trauma, addiction and community recovery. He read a line from Johann Hari to emphasize a theme of connection: "The opposite of addiction isn't sobriety. It's connection."
Committee members thanked him and asked for a written summary; Daniel said he would provide follow-up materials and noted that VAMHAR had been defunded by the Vermont Department of Health in February of the prior year and is working to rebuild funding relationships.
