A coalition of state and nonprofit health organizations this week released a five-year strategic plan that should address a critical gap in the state’s efforts on substance abuse: helping those who’ve gone through treatment with the next step, recovery.

More than 400,000 Coloradans are recovering from substance abuse disorders. While the state has been ramping up efforts in treatment for the last several years, recovery hasn’t gotten that same kind of attention.

The state plan outlines the steps that will be needed to reach some of the goals around recovery, including: 

• Creating sustained funding to support existing recovery services or to develop new ones.
• Expanding access to medication-assisted recovery and to incorporate recovery into treatment or service plans.
• Working with law enforcement on how to provide recovery services for those in the criminal justice system.

“We know that support for someone who has struggled with addiction can’t end when they leave treatment,” said Robert Werthwein, director of the Office of Behavioral Health, said in a statement. “This plan will help guide our state as we strive to ensure that we’re supporting people in recovery and helping them maintain the quality of life that they choose.”

At the heart of the strategic plan is that recovery happens in communities. According to a statement Monday by the three entities involved in the strategic plan, “Clinical treatment can provide a bridge to recovery, but an individual’s recovery is supported by safe and stable housing, having a meaningful work or another daily activity, and good mental health and physical well-being.”

The plan is the result of House Bill 1003 in 2018. That measure initially tasked the Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention at the University of Colorado with coming up with a plan for a full slate of recovery services intended to address the opioid epidemic. The Office of Behavioral Health within the Department of Human Services manages the state portion of the project.

The larger needs for recovery are for alcohol abuse, said Joe Hanel, communications director for the Colorado Health Institute, which also worked on the plan.

“It’s a much broader problem” than just opioids, he said.

Federal grants will help fund recovery efforts, and while some are specifically targeted for opioid abuse, that funding doesn’t necessarily have to be limited to opioids, Hanel said.

“It’s difficult to create a system that is segmented” by the type of substance abuse, he said. “You don’t have counselors who specialize in opioid recovery. They specialize in substance abuse.”

But most of the resources for substance abuse focus on treatment, and the recovery side gets a short shrift. There aren’t that many services focused on recovery, Hanel said.

What’s the difference? “Treatment is about breaking the addiction and getting sober,” including doctors, rehab and medication, Hanel said.

“Recovery is about reclaiming your place in society, how to live with the condition and how to accommodate relapses,” he said.

The Betty Ford Institute defines it as “a voluntarily maintained lifestyle comprised of sobriety, personal health and socially responsible living.”