Police departments from Gorham, Westbrook, Windham and Buxton are participating in a program dedicated to helping people with substance use disorder after they have completed a recovery program. Known as the Westbrook Recovery Liaison Program, it is funded by a state grant to provide basic needs for people who have been through a recovery program, or in any phase of opioid use disorder.

The program is designed for people who find themselves with no house, no job, no family and “a sense of potentially overwhelming loss. They wind up going back to the life they knew as they don’t know where to turn,” said Gorham Police Chief Dan Jones.

The program focuses on helping with housing, job placement, reconnecting with family, and with spirituality so they see they have options for another way to live. Jones says the “opposite of addiction is not recovery, it is connections,” and that is what this program is offering to substance abusers.

“For police officers, the #1 mission is the preservation of life,” said Chief Jones. This program is not a typical police program but Chief Jones is optimistic that “thinking outside the box will get something done” and that “every life is worth saving. If this program is successful, it will save lives and prevent crime as the participants who succeed will no longer need to commit crimes to get money for drugs,” said Jones.

Danielle Rideout, the program’s recovery liaison, is working with people in jail along with police and community partners in each of the four towns to assess what each person needs (housing, medical care, job training, etc.) and attempting to connect them with appropriate resources.

“The main goal of the program is to focus on people with opioid use disorder because of the epidemic we have on our hands right now…and to reduce the number of residents in the four towns who are living with an active opioid use disorder and to reduce recidivism,” said Rideout.

Rideout is available from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Mondays at Westbrook Public Safety, Wednesdays at Gorham Public Safety, Thursdays at Windham Public Safety and Fridays at the Buxton Town Hall. There is also a substance use disorder group at the Cumberland County Jail and referrals can be made for residents of the four communities to help link them with services before their release in an effort to reduce recidivism and a return to opioid use.

“As with most changes humans try to make, it takes time, community support and a lot of patience,” said Rideout.