Recovery Diversion Program Will Soon Be Extended To Howell

FREEHOLD, NJ – Now Howell will soon be part of the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office Recovery Diversion Program.

The program, which started as a pilot initiative in Long Branch in 2021, has expanded to Asbury Park and Red Bank this year.

And now Howell and Keansburg are slated to begin participating by the end of October, the prosecutor's office announced Tuesday.

“The twin scourges of substance abuse and mental illness together constitute the defining public-health challenge of our times,” Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago said. “And the only path to victory will involve programs such as these, which directly connect individuals in crisis with the social services they so desperately need.”

More than a million Americans have died due to a drug overdose in the 21st century, including a record high of nearly 110,000 last year. An estimated 1,500 lives were lost across Monmouth County in the decade stretching from 2012 through 2021, the county said.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s most recent National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that more than 46 million people nationwide meet the criteria for having a substance use disorder, yet 94 percent of them do not receive any treatment.

The survey also found that approximately 1 in 4 American adults experienced signs of mental illness over the past year.

But initiatives like the Recovery Diversion Program is trying to address problems that come to light through the Municipal Court system, officials noted.

'Another avenue' to change lives

Christa Riddle, the coordinator of the Howell Alliance, the substance abuse prevention and awareness program in Howell, welcomes Howell's participation.

"I'm happy the Recovery Diversion Program is coming to Howell as a means to get people with substance use disorder the support they need. It offers another possible avenue for them to seek recovery and treatment services that can change their lives - and you never know what will be the spark that starts recovery for each individual," Riddle said.

"The more avenues to recovery and treatment Howell can provide, the better we serve our community and give people hope for a better life," she said.

With Howell and Keansburg joining the program, by the end of next month nearly one in every five Monmouth County residents will live in a municipality in which individuals battling substance abuse and mental health disorders can be directed into recovery – and that ratio will only continue to grow in the years to come, Santiago said.

“When the Long Branch pilot program began, I was serving as the city’s municipal public defender, allowing me to witness firsthand just how effective it can be – and as County Prosecutor, I’m now blessed to be in the position to oversee its expansion throughout the county,” Santiago said.

“RDP participants routinely express amazement in discovering that when they visit Municipal Court to answer to minor criminal offenses, an entire team of dedicated professionals is already there waiting for them, eager to help them get their lives back on track,” he said.

What the Recovery Diversion Program does

Here's how the Recovery Diversion Program - or RDP - works. And the prosecutor's office notes it is distinct from Recovery Court, which operates at the Superior Court level:

• First, upon arraignment, a municipal prosecutor will offer participation to a defendant charged with a non-violent, low-level crime who has a substance use or mental health disorder.
• If interested, the candidate will be scheduled for a preliminary RDP session, during which he or she will meet a recovery specialist from Hope Sheds Light, a rehabilitative nonprofit organization serving individuals and families in Monmouth and Ocean counties.
• The recovery specialist will then explain the program and introduce the candidate to a clinician from CPC Behavioral Healthcare or New Hope Integrated Behavioral Health Care who will schedule an intake appointment and mental health evaluation.
• After attending the appointment, the participant will begin treatment at the recommended level of care, with regimens ranging in length from 12 weeks to six months.
• The 10-person RDP team, under the supervision of RDP Coordinator and Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Lindsay Ashwal, receives monthly compliance reports for each participant.
• If the participant completes all recommended treatment, maintains contact with Hope Sheds Light, and remains arrest-free, the municipal prosecutor will make a motion for dismissal of the charges against them before the Municipal Court judge. Dismissals are then left to the discretion of the judge.

A 'graduation' ceremony

Upon completion of the program, each candidate is then encouraged to invite family and friends to attend a graduation ceremony. Asbury Park held its first such ceremony this past Friday, the first day of September’s National Recovery Month.

The first defendant to appear in Asbury Park Municipal Court on Friday afternoon got a fist-bump from the municipal prosecutor and a hug from Santiago, the prosecutor's office said.

“You’re our first RDP graduate (in Asbury Park), and you are setting such an example, not only to your friends and family, but to this community,” Santiago told the graduate as his five children and many loved ones looked on, prior to presenting him with a certificate of graduation. “You are going to be the example of all we’re trying to do here.”

“I am giving you the fresh start you deserve for being here today,” Asbury Park Municipal Court Judge Ronald J. Troppoli added, while dismissing all of the remaining charges against the graduate, who just recently got hired to a new job and has developed a passion for cooking while in recovery.

Support for RDP

Funding for RDP has been provided by an Operation Helping Hand grant administered by the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General.

Additional partner organizations include the New Jersey Reentry Corporation, a nonprofit group that helps connect participants to education and job training and placement, as well as the municipal police departments, local elected leaders, and municipal court administrators, judges, public defenders, and prosecutors in each participating town, the prosecutor's office said.

“To call this a group effort would be a massive understatement,” Santiago said.

“Each expansion of RDP, tailored to suit the needs of each newly participating municipality, necessitates buy-in from virtually every branch of municipal government. But we’re finding that once we outline precisely how the program works, what the benefits are, and the fact that it comes at no cost, there has been an overabundance of receptive audiences,” he added.

For more information about the Recovery Diversion Program, go online to http://mcponj.org/recovery-diversion-program/.