The Vermont Recovery Network’s Pathways to Recovery Project.
The Vermont Recovery Network’s Pathways to Recovery project has hired Pathway Guides to work out of recovery centers, providing support for Vermonters who are seeking or receiving Medication Assisted Treatment for opiate addiction. All 11 of Vermont’s recovery centers now have a peer recovery worker you can contact and to whom you can refer people. The services and supports described are based on evidence- supported practices demonstrated to increase engagement and retention in peer recovery services, as well as increasing abstinence and functioning in other life areas.
Our Pathway Guides are available to provide support to individuals in Medication Assisted Treatment and those contemplating or waiting to get into a Medication Assisted Treatment program. Pathway Guides engage people, ask questions, and listen. Depending on what they hear, they may help people find community resources that meet their needs and support them as they navigate through the human services and treatment system; they may also help individuals connect with others in recovery, recovery centers, recovery services, and mutual support groups. Pathway Guides help people interested in or receiving Medication Assisted Treatment with their efforts to improve their lives.
Pathway Guides collaborate with opiate treatment “Hubs” and local physicians who provide ongoing treatment and other services for individuals in Medication Assisted Treatment. Pathway Guides encourage Medication Assisted Treatment participants to consider the potential benefits of making a personal commitment to participating in peer recovery support as a means to improve their lives, attending medication assisted recovery specific groups, spending time in recovery centers and connecting with others in recovery. Guides are also available to help patients who want to transition toward abstinence-based recovery by introducing them to the peer-to-peer recovery communities who use this approach.