Flanked by Middle District County Commissioner Cary Groninger, left, and North District County Commissioner Brad Jackson, right, South District County Commissioner Bob Conley explains the county opiate committee’s recommendation for contracts with two peer recovery coaches for the Kosciusko Community Recovery Program at the jail since a county commissioner meeting earlier this year. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union.

By David Slone
Times-Union

KOSCIUSKO COUNTY — Contracts between the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office and Bowen Health approved by county commissioners Monday, Nov. 4, will allow jail inmates to receive therapy while incarcerated.

Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Chris McKeand asked commissioners for approval of the two service agreements with Bowen Health, formerly Bowen Center.

“Both will consider (county) opioid board approval for Peer Recovery Coaches and therapy in the Kosciusko County Jail revolving around the recovery program,” he said.

The first agreement with Bowen Health is for $45,000 per year for a peer recovery coach to be embedded in KCJ for the Community Recovery Program.

After that contract was approved, McKeand presented the second one, for $26,000 a year, which is for therapeutic programs in the prison to be offered by Bowen Health.

“Their therapist would come in and through the program itself, they would go into individual therapies and group therapies,” McKeand said. “This is a program we are developing. It is in development right now. Discussions continue. One of the things that has changed since this agreement was made, I have spoken to them and they are willing to do the group therapies for a set fee for the group, which will reduce the individual costs per inmate and that will be reflected once all they are completed.”

Commissioners unanimously approved that contract as well.

After the commissioners’ meeting, McKeand said CRP has resource navigator Shanna Wallen in place and she’s doing a great job.

“But the next piece of it is the actual peer recovery piece, so we need the peer recovery coaches back in prison, and through the opioid (settlement) money, we got approval to actually incorporate two prison peer recovery coaches. So what you heard today was the service agreements to enter into an agreement with the Bowen Center to actually integrate one of those peer recovery coaches. And then beyond that, we have a program that we’re putting in place with the Bowen Center where they’ll come in and do individual therapy sessions and group therapy sessions with the inmates to try to alleviate some of the issues. we have with substance abuse,” McKeand explained.

Therapy sessions will cover substance abuse and mental health. Since the funding comes from opioid regulation, most of it has to do with substance abuse, but there are programs that will also deal with issues like anger management, domestic violence and others.

Sheriff Jim Smith said, “Peer Recovery Coaches are used all over the state and that’s what they find working and resonating with these people who are trying to get on the other side of addiction is hearing from those who I am actively in recovery.”

He said they could read from a textbook about why a person should or shouldn’t do certain things, but what really hits home for those trying to recover from addiction is hearing from those who have already achieved this and are actively in recovery.

“And it’s two-fold because it’s just as beneficial for those coaches to find a new passion and a new purpose, if you will, and continue to thrive for success. It’s nice to see it all come to fruition and it will start in prison, but it will continue to be there after they are released – another person to go with them. I’m certainly not doing it for them,” Smith said. “To reiterate, it’s a hand up rather than a hand out. And when you put it into perspective like that, it only works for those who are willing to receive it. So hands up, we’ll do it all day and help you, but we can’t do it for you.”

For an inmate to take part in therapy sessions, McKeand said they have to ask for it. He said the program is through the resource navigator, who is in contact with the inmate population. It determines their willingness to change something in their life, moving forward to change their outcome.

“They really get into the program. They have a questionnaire that they fill out saying they want to participate, they want to step forward and they want to change something in their life,” he said.

For each individual, this will be something different. There are no criteria to meet. What prisoners are asked to do is to want to make changes in their lives. The prison puts the programs and the people in place so that if an inmate really wants to make a change, they can do it.

“It’s up to them to do it though. We’re just giving them the ability to participate, we’re giving them the tools to actually make these things happen,” McKeand said.

He couldn’t say how far the $26,000 would go in terms of therapy sessions, but Bowen Health was really cooperative about how far they would be willing to go into the prison and provide the sessions. For the group sessions, McKeand said Bowen Health initially talked about billing per participant, but then changed it to billing per session, which will greatly reduce the cost.

“It’s a big help for us, but that’s a big olive branch from the Bowen Center to say they’re going to do that. It’s definitely a cooperative effort,” McKeand said.

Throughout the CRP, as it moves forward, he said he’s trying to gather information to show it’s worth the county funding it.

“It is an effective solution to have this program. Lots of reference points go with it. Our prison population is one — tracking how often people come back to our facility, reducing that would be huge,” McKeand said. “If you really keep these people off these substances, it’s going to reduce crime in the community because what we’re finding is that drug use is driving a lot of our crime. So, you address one, it will have positive effects in other places as well. That’s the hope.”