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eNewsletter - December 13, 2011
Recovery Community Organization News
About the MARS Project
The Medication-Assisted Recovery Services (MARS) Project is the only peer recovery support project funded, and refunded, by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration's (SAMHSA) Recovery Community Services Program to provide peer recovery support services to people whose recovery from opiate addiction is assisted by a medication. NAMA-Recovery is the largest MAT Recovery Community Organization in the US. NAMA Recovery is a member of the Association of Recovery Community Organizations at Faces & Voices of Recovery.
The MARS Project is completely designed and implemented by people in medication-assisted recovery, called MARS peers. The MARS Project's overall strategy includes combating the stigma and lack of knowledge that undermines retention in treatment while promoting patient identities as people in recovery.
The MARS Project delivers peer recovery support services to promote sustained recovery from opiate addiction and to help prevent relapse to patients in medication assisted treatment. The foundation of the project is the MARS Core Training, providing information on (a) opiate addiction as a brain disorder, (b) how methadone works, and (c) medication-assisted recovery. NAMA Recovery has learned from the peer community that most methadone patients and many treatment counselors believe that recovery occurs only after a person leaves MAT.
Beyond MARS
SAMHSA selected The National Alliance for Medication-Assisted Recovery to receive one year of supplemental funding to create "Beyond MARS," the Medication Assisted Recovery Service (MARS) Training Institute at The Albert Einstein College of Medicine (AECOM).
Beyond MARS will allow the MARS Project to begin training peers and staff in other opioid treatment programs (OTPs) to replicate the successful recovery-oriented system of care that MARS brings to OTP communities. The new collaboration with Einstein's Division of Substance Abuse will create training manuals, videos and other materials to document the methodology of the MARS Project and assist OTPs in replicating MARS and incorporating recovery programming into their programs.
Beyond MARS will identify an implementation team from each of the eight selected OTPs and hold facilitated three-day training for each at the Einstein program in the Bronx, NY. Implementation teams will include four people from each selected OTP (administrator, counselor, and two peers). They will be trained and receive all of the materials needed to implement MARS Project peer recovery support services. Beyond MARS trainers will be available to assist in implementation throughout the project period. Additional information is available from Walter Ginter, MARS Project Director.
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