Arlington Recovery Community & Sobering Center

About the Program

Category: Health (Best in Category)

Year: 2022

Individuals with untreated serious mental health and/or substance use disorders have frequent contact with the criminal justice system. The advent of state led criminal justice diversion initiatives, and the lack of diversion resources and incentives have made it increasingly challenging to enroll justice-involved individuals in recovery-based services. As a result, Riverside University Health System – Behavioral Health (RUHS-BH) identified a need to establish community-based programs that can effectively engage and serve individuals who have contact with the criminal justice system related to an untreated or ineffectively treated mental health and/or substance use disorder (SUD). The Arlington Recovery Community (ARC) and Sobering Center provides the necessary continuum of care, treatment and wrap-around services that assists in the prevention of incarceration, with the intent to break the cycle of re-offending and re-incarceration. The ARC program provides a 24/7-365 sobering center, which allows law enforcement and ambulance drop-offs, along with a fully integrated residential approach for treating serious mental health and SUDs. Both the Sobering Center and ARC function to divert individuals from more costly interventions including incarcerations and medical and/or psychiatric hospitalizations. The population of focus includes homeless, at-risk of justice involvement due to public intoxication, and individuals in mental health crisis.