Bridge Over Troubled Waters? Certified Recovery Specialist Support and Community Reentry: A Pilot Study

Peer support services, including certified recovery specialists (CRSs), have been of increasing interest to treatment scholars. However, if and how such services assist justice-involved individuals with substance use disorders during community reentry is less understood. This pilot study provided CRS services to both reentrants and their family members during the transition from close custody confinement to community supervision, a perilous period in which risks of relapse and rearrest peak. Post-intervention interviews with nine of fifteen recruited reentrants and four of five recruited family members in central Pennsylvania were analyzed using iterative thematic coding. Participants perceived CRS services as essential for the reentry and recovery process. Interviewees identified CRS's lived experience, advocacy, availability, empathy, and family outreach as key mechanisms of recovery success. These results highlight the importance of CRS services for recovery capital during the community reentry transition.