After our new Logan County Sheriff's Office and Detention Center was completed in 2019, we now had space in our Detention Center for programs to rehabilitate and help our inmates. We worked with several agencies and churches and we now have a GED program, Celebrate Recovery and other programs aimed at addiction, and a Senior Chaplain who organizes our chaplains in both religious serves and the programs they offer.

 

In January of 2022, we collaborated with The Guidance Center to bring Peer Recovery Groups into our Detention Center. The Guidance Center's Addiction Services now sends Peer Recovery Specialist Cindy Moore to the Detention Center every Wednesday for sessions and groups with both men and women who suffer from substance use disorder. Cindy is doing an awesome job in our Detention Center. She conducts both group and one on one meetings. She conducts Narcotics Anonymous (NA) and Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) programs and she has built a good rapport with the inmates. She helps them find classes, counseling, and support after they leave the Detention Center. She has an office at The Guidance Center building in Paris and meets with released inmates for continued support. We are very proud of her work and we hope that this leads to changed lives.

 

Our goal in this program is to provide an opportunity for inmate group members to consider a different way to live by having the Peer Recovery Support Specialist guide them in becoming open to a recovery process that can change their lives and allow them to become productive members of society. The Peer also encourages them to seek therapy after treatment with a Mental Health Professional and sets them up with an appointment as soon as they are released from the Detention Center if they choose. The Peer Recover Support Specialist also teaches living skills and is available for aftercare at no extra charge to any inmates interested.

 

Peer Recovery Support is the process of giving non-clinical assistance to achieve long-term recovery from addiction challenges. The Peer is a person that has "lived experience and are in long term recovery from substance abuse" and has been trained by the Arkansas Department of Human Services and is certified by the State of Arkansas to assist others in initiating and maintaining long-term recovery and enhancing the quality of life for individuals and their families.

 

The Peer Recovery Support Specialist Program is at no cost to Logan County.

 

- Sheriff Jason Massey