Contributed/ETSU

Kelly Moore, a professor in ETSU’s Department of Psychology and a licensed clinical psychologist, is debuting a documentary about jail-based substance use treatment. “The Opportunity Within” will be screened for the public at Jonesborough’s Jackson Theatre on April 9 at 6 p.m.

Since early on in her academic journey, Moore has been working to better integrate principles of clinical psychology and evidence-based behavioral treatments into jails and other criminal justice settings.

The documentary was funded through a grant contract with the Tennessee Opioid Abatement Council, an agency that decides how to best spend state settlement money received due to the opioid crisis.

“The overall goal of the video was to challenge and introduce a new perspective to some of our region’s jails about what treatment could look like,” said Moore. “We wanted to, in many ways, just raise awareness about this issue with the high risk of overdose and increase awareness about some of the possible treatment options that are available in other jails in other parts of the country and show people’s lived experience of these issues.”

According to a report by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention),  Tennessee was the second-highest state for drug overdose per 100,000 people in 2021. There is also the highest risk of fatal overdose within the first two weeks after people are released from jail, in addition to a lack of treatment for them while in jail.

The documentary brought together firsthand accounts of people with experience of addiction and incarceration, research on jail-based treatment options and their effectiveness and examples of jails implementing these programs and resources.

Moore partnered with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office to implement more jail-based clinical services and treatment resources for addiction to help lower the risk of relapse after leaving jail. They also looked at how providing this support in prison could help to reduce recidivism rates.

Moore has also worked with other jails in the region, who have interest in the ideas from the documentary, although many have faced issues with a lack of financial resources and funding to offer more supportive programs and higher quality treatment. She has been working with some of these jails to apply for grant funding to be able to provide more mental health and substance use treatment resources in the future.

Another important goal of the documentary was featuring the voices of people with lived experience of addiction and incarceration. Moore worked with several certified peer recovery specialists, many of whom are local to the region, to share their own stories of recovery and to find what was helpful for them in their journeys.

“I hope the video helps shed light on what this population faces and some of the struggles they have, just to bring some compassion to people that are in that position,” said Moore. “I think there’s a lot of stigma about people with a criminal background, people that have been to jail and people that have a substance use problem. I hope the video shows that there are many people who can change if we just give them the opportunity.”

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