On January 19, the Norfolk City Jail held the first graduating class of ten inmates from the Addiction Recovery Grant Program. This is the first Sheriff’s Office to offer this programming.
The Addiction Recovery Program is designed to provide co-occurring substance abuse and mental health inmates a treatment program offering cognitive behavior treatment therapy with group and individual counseling from licensed clinical therapists, reentry classes and services, and trauma informed care classes. The goals of this program are to decrease recidivism, enhance public safety, and close gaps in the existing continuum of care to the city’s vulnerable populations. This provides programming and release plans for mental health inmates with an in-custody program prior to their release from custody. We are the first Sheriff’s Office to offer this programming.
This is an entirely voluntary program and the participants have taken a full course of Reentry Classes, Cognitive Therapy twice a week, and Trauma Informed Care classes each week. The participants have worked hard to complete the program and we are proud of their accomplishment. We are looking at this as a first step in recognizing and dealing with the issues that contribute to their incarceration. Moving forward, the program will provide those graduates who need assistance with DMV IDs, housing services, and continued community support through the Norfolk Community Service Board.
