Addiction Recovery Management Services Unit

The Addiction Recovery Management Services Unit (ARMSU) provides extensive training, clinical supervision, and education to IDOC staff, vendors, and other local and state agency staff. In addition, the ARMSU is responsible for monitoring all substance use programs within the Department, providing oversight for additional substance use treatment program development, and serves as the liaison between other community and state agencies.

The mission of the ARMSU is to formulate consistent guidelines for the development and implementation of addiction recovery management programs and the continuum of care within the Department; to coordinate the screening, assessment, and referral of individuals in custody needing and/or requesting addiction recovery services; to monitor the care and standards of substance use treatment provided to individuals in custody; to serve as a resource for the Agency and provide consultative services and training to agency staff and community providers around addiction issues.

The ARMSU facilitates training sessions for staff currently in the CADC process and IDOC and/or vendor staff in need of training and continuing education units. Staff attending these trainings include Parole Agents, Parole Supervisors, Clinical Services Supervisors, Correctional Casework Supervisors, Correctional Counselors, Corrections Assessment Specialists, Mental Health Professionals, and substance abuse counselors. Training topics include:

• Screening, Intake and Assessments
• Ethics, Confidentiality and Boundaries
• Documentation and Record Keeping
• Cultural Competence and Diversity
• Trauma Informed Care
• Gender Specific Treatment Approaches
• Co-Occurring Disorders
• Special Treatment Populations
• Portfolio Development
• Psychopharmacology
• Relapse Prevention and Recovery Services
• Criminal Thinking and Re-entry Planning
• Motivational Interviewing
• ASAM Criteria
• Clinical Supervision and Field Work

The ARMSU also participates in the IAODAPCA Conferences in Northern and Southern Illinois and attends other trainings and conferences throughout the year.

In the Women & Family Services Division, treatment programs at both facilities are gender specific and utilize a modified therapeutic community model of treatment. Currently, both Logan and Decatur Correctional Centers offer a dual diagnosis program and a general substance treatment program.

Elsewhere in the Department, Sheridan and Southwestern are dedicated treatment facility with services that bridge the gap between incarceration and the community. With state, community and local service providers, Sheridan and Southwestern provide intensive substance use treatment to individuals in custody identified as in need of treatment in an intensive, multi-modality therapeutic milieu. Both facilities operated in an evidence-based modality and include the following: clinical reentry management, vocational counseling, job placement, community involvement and restorative justice. In addition, their treatment will continue upon completion of their sentence under a highly supervised transition back to their communities.

What distinguishes the programs at Sheridan and Southwestern from other programs is that they have an extensive focus on community safety and the most highly supervised and supported reentry program in state history.

Outside of these facilities, modified therapeutic communities are offered at a multitude of other facilities throughout the state. All the adult male treatment programs are IDBHR licensed and utilize the modified therapeutic community model of treatment.

Baseline services provided throughout the agency are:

• Drug Awareness—All sites are able to provide the Hazelden Curriculum to raise awareness and inform. This is a voluntary, 5-week-long class for basic level substance use information.
• Drug Education – All sites are able to provide the Hazelden Curriculum to change attitudes and behaviors. This is a voluntary, 12-week-long program for intermediate, in-depth knowledge and skill building.
• Substance Use Screenings – All sites are able to provide the standardized Texas Christian University Screening Tool to identify individuals in custody who are in need of substance use treatment. In addition, all individuals in custody coming into the Department of Corrections are screened at intake with this tool. There is a statewide substance use wait list that is generated through the Reception and Classification Units as a result of the front end identification of individuals in custody who are in need and willing to participate in substance use treatment.
• Support Groups – All sites are able to provide Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Adult Children of Alcoholics and Inner Circle.

The Department collaborated with both the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority and the Illinois Department of Behavioral Health to secure funding for services not only within facilities, but also to fund programming within Adult Transitional Centers and for Pre- and Post-Release Clinical Reentry Services.

All substance use treatment is voluntary and individuals in custody who meet the criteria and are interested in services are referred to the most appropriate level of services based upon need, length of time to MSR, security level and motivation to change.