The Illinois Department of Human Services/Division of Substance Use Prevention and Recovery (IDHS/SUPR) Service Enhancement for Pregnant and Postpartum Women with OUD (PPW-OUD) is a new pilot program focused on Family-based Services to pregnant and postpartum women with a primary, secondary, or tertiary diagnosis of opioid use disorder (OUD). Pilot programs will include the use of specialized screening, referral, family-based treatment interventions, and recovery support services, including providing access to a Doula Certified Peer Recovery Specialist for pregnant and postpartum women with OUD and their families.
PPW-OUD pilot programs will enhance their multi-disciplinary teams by including a Doula Certified Peer Recovery Specialist to support their pregnant women. The Doula Certified Peer Recovery Specialist will provide support to pregnant and postpartum women up to 12 months after giving birth and assist in addressing the needs of their families. A Doula Certified Peer Recovery Specialist is a person in active recovery who obtains dual certification as both a birth and a postpartum doula to assist the recovering mother through all phases of obstetrics and the CPRS to assist in recovery from her addiction.
The use of MAT during pregnancy is a recommended best practice for the care of pregnant women with OUD, however is narrowed to the use of methadone and buprenorphine as supported by the opinion of The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).
The following organizations are the PPW-OUD pilot programs:
- McDermott Center - Cook County
- The Women's Treatment Center - Cook County
- Chestnut Health Systems - Madison/St. Clair Counties
- PCC Community Wellness Center - Cook County starting July 1, 2019
- Catholic Charities - Cook County starting July 1, 2019
The goals of the PPW-OUD pilot programs include:
- Enhance OUD services to pregnant and post-partum women either directly as an OTP or with a strong relationship with an OTP.
- Facilitate the availability of family-based treatment and recovery support services. This includes the provision of services for pregnant and postpartum women, their minor children, age 17 and under, and other family members of the women and children as deemed necessary.
- Create strong collaborative relationships with hospitals and/or or FQHC's and obstetricians/gynecologist's.
- Provide a trauma-informed system of assessments, interventions, and social-emotional skill building services.
- Create multi-disciplinary teams to include Certified Doula Peer Recovery Specialists.
- Provide care coordination and case management to ensure Medicaid benefits and other mainstream benefits are assessed and coordinated.
- Promote effective and efficient coordination and delivery of services across multiple systems and providers (e.g., behavioral health, primary care, housing, child and family services).
- Recovery support services (e.g., child care, vocational, educational, and transportation services)
- Outreach, engagement, screening, and assessment
- Provide developmentally appropriate screenings and activities
Definitions:
Doula - A trained professional who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to a mother before, during and shortly after childbirth to help her achieve the healthiest, most satisfying experience possible. A doula's role is not the same as a midwife's and is not required to have medical training.
Certified Peer Recovery Specialist (CPRS) - A credential for individuals who share the experience of recovering from a substance use or mental health disorder, either directly or as family members or significant others. Persons served by a CPRS include persons with substance use disorders, mental illnesses, persons dually diagnosed with mental illness and substance use disorder, family members/significant others and/or staff of organizations seeking consultation on the recovery model. The CPRS assists individuals in becoming involved in their own recovery process so they might develop personalized action plans for their own behavioral, emotional, physical and social health. They provide experience, education and professional services to assist and support individuals in developing and/or maintaining recovery-oriented, wellness-focused lifestyles.
Family-based services - At a minimum, family-based services acknowledge the influence and importance of family, provide for family involvement, and address family issues in individual treatment plans.
Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) - Group of physiologic and neurobehavioral signs of withdrawal that may occur in a newborn who was exposed to psychotropic substances in utero. The syndrome may be managed with non-pharmacologic interventions but may require pharmacotherapy. Symptoms may include excessive crying, poor feeding or sucking, fever, vomiting and diarrhea, tremors and irritability, and/or low birthweight.
Postpartum - Programs will be able to work with women and their families for the period after childbirth up to 12 months.
Resources:
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists: https://www.acog.org/
The Doula Services Network: http://doula-services.com/category/become-a-doula/
Illinois Certification Board/CPRS: http://www.iaodapca.org/credentialing/certified-peer-recovery-specialist-cprs/
For further inquiries please contact Lisa Cohen at 312-814-8781 Lisa.Cohen@Illinois.gov
