Integrating Employment Services with Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery

This report describes the experiences of SUD programs in relation to three critical aspects of program design and implementation: 1) structuring programs to integrate employment services with treatment and recovery services: 2) designing employment services to address the specific needs of people with SUD; and 3) providing support services and connecting people with SUD with jobs appropriate for them.

The research questions guiding this report are:

• In what contexts have integrated employment and treatment/recovery programs been established? What are the goals of such programs in those contexts?
• How are the programs structured and operated? What organizational partnerships do they have? What groups do they target, and how did they recruit members of those groups? How do they provide SUD-related services, employment services, and other support services?
• What lessons can be learned from the implementation of the programs? What have been their successes and challenges?

The report is based on interviews with managers and direct service staff members at five programs integrating SUD treatment and recovery services with employment services, conducted virtually during the summer of 2020. Please note that this approach of interviewing case managers and direct staff members may be useful in examining SUD services, it lacks direct input from the participants in the program.

(This report is 64 pages long.)

(The study took place from 2020 to 2022.)

The researchers identified the following findings based on the varied experiences of the five profiled programs:

• Programs made different decisions regarding the nature and content of employment services and when in the treatment and recovery process those services were offered. Some programs in this study began employment services early in the recovery process, while others began them after participants had been in recovery longer.
• Organizational partnerships are important for providing the range of employment and treatment and recovery services participants need. People in recovery from SUD navigate complex barriers to employment that often require services from multiple systems.
• Programs offering employment services—including job-placement services—must adapt them to accommodate people in recovery from SUD. While the study found variation in the types of adaptations programs made to employment services, the programs did consistently design those services to reflect the needs of people in recovery from SUD.

The findings in this report lead to the following selected proposed recommendations program practitioners should consider as they are designing and implementing services for individuals with substance use disorder:

• Determine the sequence in which the program will offer treatment and recovery and employment services, and the nature and content of employment services.
• Build organizational partnerships to provide the range of employment services and treatment and recovery services participants need.
• Adapt employment services to accommodate people in recovery from SUD.
• Identify the funding sources needed to address the full range of participants’ needs.

The researchers ended the report with this assessment: Given the historic increases in substance use and overdose rates that have occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, research on approaches to address both employment and SUD treatment and recovery are of particular importance for the field moving forward.

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2022
• Author(s): Betesh, H.; Schwartz, D.; Rappaport, S.; Martinson, K.
• Funding Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF)
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
• Posted by: Justin Venneri
• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies