A Community-Based Organization's Integration of HIV and Substance Abuse Treatment Services for Ex-Offenders

Summary

This paper explores the point of intersection of the substance abuse treatment and HIV services industries with the criminal justice system. Section I reviews the literature and “best practices” that have integrated substance abuse treatment and HIV care and prevention services for ex-offenders and which informed the development of a community-based organization's initiative, the VIP STRIVE Project. Section II presents a brief history of VIP in the context of its ability to adapt to its environment and to the changing needs of its target population, with specific reference to the development of HIV and substance abuse treatment services for members of the criminal justice population. The concluding section brings the two previous sections together by explaining how the VIP STRIVE Project can assist VIP in enhancing its capacity to integrate its substance abuse treatment and HIV services in order to improve services for this target population.

Key Words:

• Substance abuse
• harm-reduction
• HIV
• integration
• care