Maine Behavioral Healthcare awarded $1.3M to provide substance use treatment

Maine Behavioral Healthcare, a unit of MaineHealth, has been awarded a state grant of over $1.3 million to provide substance use treatment in 10 Maine counties.

The services are designed specifically for people identified through the Treatment and Recovery Court process and are facing substance use-related criminal charges, currently incarcerated, or on probation with a risk of incarceration.

Once a participant graduates from the program, Maine Behavioral Healthcare offers continued services at any substance use treatment clinics in Biddeford, Portland, Springvale and Rockland.

The counties include Androscoggin, Cumberland, York, Franklin, Oxford, Somerset, Kennebec, Lincoln, Knox and Waldo. The grant represents an 18-month commitment for Maine Behavioral Healthcare to provide comprehensive substance use treatment services, including co-occurring treatment for those with accompanying mental health diagnoses.

“We are proud to provide treatment to this population and enter into an exciting partnership with members of the community,” said Kelly Barton, president of Maine Behavioral Healthcare. “Through this work, we are modeling MaineHealth’s mission of working together to make our communities the healthiest in America.”

The Maine Department of Health and Human Services Office of Behavioral Health made the funding possible.

“This program is critical in promoting community safety and reducing recidivism and substance use among offenders," said Tom Kivler, senior director of substance use services at Maine Behavioral Healthcare.

“Our evidence-based model of treatment can increase the likelihood of successful rehabilitation by implementing a blend of treatment, supervision, appropriate responses, and incentives. It teaches people in the criminal justice system with substance use disorders to focus on the moral aspects of their illness and the social consequences that may be associated with using substances.”

Maine Behavioral Healthcare is part of MaineHealth, the largest health care system in the state, serving 1.1 million residents in Maine and New Hampshire.