Public and private health insurers increasingly have reduced or eliminated coverage for alcohol and drug (ATOD) treatment programs. One reason that long-term ATOD treatment is expensive is the overhead involved in housing and feeding patients-let alone their families. Another barrier for some users, particularly women, is the lack of reliable individuals to care for family members while an individual receives treatment.
To resolve those issues for impoverished and low-income individuals, the Key West Housing Authority created Safeport, a 12-month ATOD facility within a public housing complex. By enclosing a portion of a traditional complex, using two previously residential buildings for classrooms and childcare, Safeport provides free treatment while clients maintain families in their own apartments. Clients, spouses, and children receive free services; adults are responsible to support themselves and their families through work and social services benefits. These benefits are reduced throughout the course of treatment as clients receive more freedom to work.
Results: Mothers who enter treatment or who are reunited with their children and spouses/equivalents (if appropriate) are more likely to complete their courses of treatment, to relapse less frequently during treatment, and to remain abstinent one-year after treatment than mothers who were not reunited. For example, 90% (19/21) of women who entered Safeport with children and who completed their treatment plans were drug-free one year after discharge. Almost the exact opposite is true for their counterparts; 86 percent of women whose children never came to Safeport relapsed within the six months following completion of treatment.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this presentation, participants will be able to 1. Identify the components to an ATOD treatment facility that specializes in women with children who are residents of, or who qualify for, public housing. 2. Articulate the benefits of allowing women to receive drug treatment while they continue in their roles as mothers. 3. Apply the results of this preliminary efficacy analysis should they seek to implement a similar program in their communities.
Keywords: Drug Abuse Treatment, Women's Health
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Safeport, the Key West Housing Authority's free ATOD treatment program for people who are residents of, or who qualify for, public housing
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: The primary author was employed as the on-site evaluator for the independent evaluation of this research project at the time these data were collected. At present, the author also is employed by the treatment program's parent organization to work on anot