Learning to Love (or at Least Understand) MAT in My Facility

Addressing substance use disorders in jails is a Bureau of Justice Assistance priority. Implementation of Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) within jails is becoming a standard health care service. However, front-line staff may be skeptical, or uninformed about MAT. Because training for MAT is often directed towards medical staff and clients, those on the front-line may not be included in the process. Therefore, staff who interact with individuals may feel uninformed or worried about the ramifications of implementing MAT. In this workshop, staff from three facilities discuss how they learned about MAT and what helped them know why and how MAT is beneficial to administer within jails. Corrections officers also discuss the impact of MAT programs on their facilities. They share how their MAT program functions, how they were trained to implement the program, and how their programs were received by colleagues and those detained in the jails.