Gary Cuddeback leads interdisciplinary team securing $2 million SAMHSA grant
The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has awarded a five-year, $2 million grant to a Virginia Commonwealth University-led project that will provide a range of services, including drug treatment, employment, housing, case management and peer support, for people with substance use disorders and co-occurring mental illnesses who are involved in the criminal justice system.
Project ReConnect is led by a multidisciplinary team of researchers at VCU, including Gary S. Cuddeback, Ph.D., interim dean, associate dean for research and professor in the School of Social Work; Nancy A. Morris, Ph.D., chair of the criminal justice program and associate professor in the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs; Amy Cook, Ph.D., acting assistant dean of student services and associate professor in Wilder School; and Melodie Fearnow-Kenney, project evaluator in the School of Education.
Project ReConnect will serve 275 individuals who are currently incarcerated in the Chesterfield County Jail and who are participants of its HARP program – Helping Addicts Recover Progressively – as well as individuals who are receiving services from REAL Life, a community-based substance use treatment and re-entry organization in Richmond.
In addition to providing support to participants, Project ReConnect will establish a multidisciplinary criminal justice/social work student internship program, preparing VCU students to work in social work, substance use treatment and criminal justice careers.
» See the full story at VCU News.
Categories Community, Faculty and staff, Research