Mission Statement: We envision a North Carolina where people, particularly veterans with mental illness, co-occurring disorders, traumatic brain injury, or trauma, who are involved in the criminal justice system, are provided treatment instead of incarceration, when this can be done at little risk to public safety, where our criminal justice and service systems are military friendly, and understand the enduring impact of trauma on people’s lives.  We will build a model system that embodies this vision, and disseminate this model throughout North Carolina, for the benefit of our citizens, our communities, and those who have served our nation through their military service to our country.

Background: The Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration funded the Jail Diversion and Trauma Recovery Program of the Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services for a five-year period from October 1, 2009 to September 30, 2014.  The purpose of the program is two-fold:

1. To implement an infrastructure building program at the State level to provide project oversight and expand trauma-integrated jail diversion programming with a priority on veterans statewide, and
2. To create a model pilot program that will create a comprehensive, trauma integrated jail diversion and support system to address the unmet needs of individuals involved in or likely to become involved in the criminal justice system with trauma spectrum disorders, co-occurring substance abuse, and traumatic brain injury, and will prioritize service to veterans.  This pilot program—Operation Recovery—will provide a model that can be replicated for larger scale dissemination across the state