Our Team
At Connect2Recovery, we use a person-centered, strengths-based approach that puts the person in recovery in the lead. You will work with a team of trained peers – a Recovery Support Navigator, Recovery Coach, or Certified Peer Specialist – to develop a Recovery Wellness Plan consisting of the goals you wish to achieve in one or more areas of life, such as:
- Forming community connections
- Improving your physical and emotional health
- Receiving education
- Finding suitable housing
If the person seeking services already has a care team in place, our team of experts works with them to formulate the best care plan possible.
Recovery Support Navigators are case managers who assist the person in substance use and/or mental health recovery by breaking down barriers in daily life that interfere with recovery. Using the Recovery Wellness Plan as the blueprint, Navigators know what services are available in the community and can connect the person to a network of supports for a healthy, balanced life. They can help:
- Coordinate therapy and Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT)
- Connect to peer recovery resources like AA, NA, SMART recovery, DRA, and peer recovery centers
- Assist with access to living/financial supports such as SNAP benefits and transitional assistance
- Connect to health providers and specialists
- Support with drug court and probation
- Coordinate with DCF and family supports
Individuals eligible to receive support from a Recovery Support Navigator must have a substance use diagnosis in addition to one of the following:
- A recent inpatient stay (detox or other in the last 180 days)
- Multiple crisis interventions or emergency department visits
- Barriers to accessing behavioral health or medical services
- A loss of employment
- A lack of family support
- Housing instability
- A history of incarceration
- Changes in MAT protocol
- Being pregnant or up to 12 months postpartum (includes a significant other)
Recovery Coaches are peers who have lived experience with substance use and have completed training to encourage, motivate, and support a person in substance use or mental health recovery. Using a person-centered, strengths-based approach, Recovery Coaches are culturally sensitive advocates and role models who help members make positive life choices and connect to recovery-friendly social relationships. They can:
- Serve as a mentor and guide for recovery wellness and life goals
- Help explore pathways of recovery and support connection to the recovery community
- Provide motivation, coaching, emotional support, and peer accountability
- Support connection, reconnection, and conflict reduction with family and friends
- Assist with self-advocacy and access to counseling and medical services, legal support, and living resources
Individuals eligible to receive support from a Recovery Support Navigator must have a substance use diagnosis and meet one of the following criteria:
- Attempting to achieve recovery
- Seeking recovery education
- Searching for motivational support
- Pursuing connections to the recovery community
- Can benefit from a Recovery Wellness Plan
- Pregnant or up to 12 months postpartum (includes a significant other)
Certified Peer Specialists are individuals with lived experience managing mental health or substance use challenges who have completed training and are certified to support those in recovery. Using a mutually supportive, strengths-based approach, Certified Peer Specialists are culturally sensitive advocates and role models who help individuals gain hope, explore recovery, and achieve life goals. They can:
- Serve as a mentor, advocate, and guide for mental health wellness and life goals
- Help remove obstacles to recovery and link individuals to a mental health recovery community
- Provide encouragement and inspiration by sharing their recovery experience
- Build self-efficacy by supporting the voices and choices of the individual
Riverside’s Community Support Program assists individuals living with mental health challenges who are at high risk for inpatient services. Eligibility to receive services requires a diagnosed mental health condition and one of the following:
- An inpatient stay in the last 180 days
- Multiple ESP or emergency department visits in the last 90 days
- Barriers to accessing essential behavioral health or medical services
- A Primary Care Physician’s referral
